NEWS

bristol beer factory

x

wiper and true

Words by Michael Wiper

In the Summer of 2018 we started work on a project that came to be known as Brewed In Bristol, a series of beers to showcase the creativity and collaborative nature of our unique city. We drew up a list of companies, people and organisations we would love to work with on producing a beer. We were thinking a lot about partners outside of the brewing industry and outside of the usual collaboration format. But there was one brewing partnership that kept topping the list, and one we couldn’t resist putting a proposal to – The Bristol Beer Factory.

Our history goes back longer than they even know about! When they launched in 2004 I became an instant admirer and BBF became my go to cask ale with Gold and Seven. As a keen homebrewer I went on tours of their Ashton Gate site. I brewed a small batch of a beer heavily inspired by their Acer for a friend’s birthday (he was a massive fan). I dropped into the brewery and a then BBF brewer Brett (who went on to found the Wild Beer Co) very kindly gave me the essential, and enigmatic Sorachi Ace hops and some vital tips on brewing techniques. This was my first real introduction to the industry and the buzz around the place was an inspiration for starting to brew commercially.

Then came Southville Hop, the local legend of an IPA that epitomises the era of small independent breweries starting to produce West Coast influenced beers with big American hop aromas, bursting with flavour. I fell in love with that beer!

Years later, within the first few months of Wiper and True, we were invited to join a business mentoring scheme and paired up with their former Head Brewer, Chris Kay. Chris and I met for evening beers and talked through all kinds of things around beer and the industry. He helped me work through several teething problems and was always on hand for the inevitable production issues arising from brewing in multiple places. I felt very privileged to have guidance from a brewery that I had looked up to since they’d started. It was one of the many early signs of camaraderie and unity that is such a foundation of the brewing scene.

As both teams have grown so has the friendship and fortunately for us, mutual respect, which shaped our approach to the collaboration. Rather than brewing a single collab beer, we decided to take on our favourite facets of each others styles and bring our own twists to them. We made our own cover songs of each others beers.

We’ve always been admirers of their renowned cask beers, and wanted to learn more about them along the way, and they were keen on taking on some of our keg IPA features. So we devised two beers and two brew dates, one in each brewery. Our brew teams ran tasting panels on the chosen beers and wrote draft recipes from the tasting, without having seen the brewing records. We then shared the actual recipes and compared notes, tweaked and refined.

At Wiper and True the BBF team came down and brewed our take on their Pale Ale Independence. We upped the alcohol to 6.8%, fermented it with a New England yeast strain to promote big fruit flavours, esters, and an alluring haze. We used their Amber malt that we’d never used before, and hopped with Junga and Nugget, beautiful hops we are unfamiliar with except when drinking Independence! We then added a new hop product called Cryo Hop – a powder extracted from hop plants at minus 35 degrees C that concentrates the fruit notes in hops and discards the more planty, green features. The result packs a huge punch.

At the Beer Factory we brewed a 4.2% Cask version of our staple India Pale Ale Quintet. The team there took on the big hop aromas, the large volume of oats, wheat and extra pale malts and transformed them into a session-able BBF version using their own yeast strain and added lactose to the bill, lending a smooth mouthfeel, promoting body and fruit notes. It’s a real challenge translating that body and flavour into a lower alcohol cask beer, and we think they absolutely nailed it.

Quartet Session IPA, the Bristol Beer Factory take on our Quintet IPA will be available in cask across Bristol and further beyond from today. Co-dependence IPA, the Wiper and True twist on Bristol Beer Factory’s Independence IPA will be available in keg from Thursday 31st January.

In celebration of the release of our collaborations, we’ll be taking over Bristol Beer Factory’s tap room on Thursday 31st January. We’ll be bringing the party atmosphere from our corner of St Werburghs to their brewery on North Street. The Wiper and True team will be out in force and both collaborations will be pouring alongside the beers that inspired them.

A fond farewell to will

After nearly six years at the helm of the brew house our Head Brewer William Hartley will be leaving Wiper True in the New Year.

Will has been instrumental in building Wiper and True into the brewery it is today. He joined the team in the early months of the company, taking a break from his study to help out on bottling runs on cold winter’s days in various breweries and garages around the west country. Michael and Will would stand, filling and capping by hand and talking non stop about beer. It wasn't long before Will got the bug and joined the team on a permanent basis, doubling our staff in the process.

Fast forward to today and Will is an exceptional brewer with an IBD Diploma in brewing, managing our entire production and being the passionate, tenacious guardian of our beer. He has been part of the fabric of our company and integral in the pivotal moments that have got us to where we are today.

Will has decided it’s time to move on to new challenges and gain experience in the wonderful world of beer outside of Wiper and True. We are very sorry to see him go but equally as excited for him about his new opportunities and ventures.

AARDMAN X WIPER AND TRUESTOP FRAME

We’ve always enjoyed creating something unique and Bristol-centric for Bristol Beer week. This year we turned to a feature of the city that has drawn many of us here, inspired us, and makes Bristol a brilliant place to run a business: creativity. We decided that we wanted to work with some of the city’s creative institutions and brew a set of beers to celebrate creativity as a concept.

Aardman are synonymous with Bristol, they are fiercely independent and their style is unmistakable – much like the city we both call home.

Their hand-crafted approach, where the finger prints are still visible on each animated model, has parallels to our brewing style. Each of our beer recipes is unique – even our core range is refined with every brew, constantly evolving and yet always familiar.

As part of our Brewed in Bristol series we have developed a collaboration beer with Aardman’s Co-Founder and Creative Director Peter Lord. Over a few beers with Peter we were discussing, of course, beer - and specifically what each of us thought was the perfect pint. Peter recounted to us a daydream he’d had on a long, hot train journey. As he looked out the window on to a dusty field, Peter had imagined walking along the tracks in the field and to a country pub where a thirst-quenching pint would be awaiting his arrival. What was the pint? A Bitter, Peter’s beer style of choice during his days establishing Aardman here in Bristol.

This got us excited, we’d been keen to brew a Best Bitter for a long while – as a team it’s a style we go to on handpumps, Fuller’s English Style Bitter is one of the most revered beers in the UK. We wanted to develop a modern interpretation of this traditional style, one that would hopefully fulfil Peter’s daydream.

We chose to animate a traditional Best Bitter recipe with the addition of bold yeast esters and the use of Cryo hops. Historically hops would be added in the boil process of brewing a Bitter, used for their bittering properties and to add a touch of aroma. We did the same in our Animated Best Bitter but also added a product called Cryo hops during the beer’s fermentation. These are a modern development in the processing of hops – the hops are cryogenically processed in order to separate the oils and resin in the flowers and greatly reduce the amount of vegetative material. The resultant powder provides intense flavour and aroma, in our chosen hops this translates as bold citrus notes.

These bright citrus flavours marry with the sweet toffee of the traditional Bitter malt base and are brought to life by the fruitiness of the yeast used. We think the resulting brew is the perfect thirst-quencher after a long day.

extract x wiper and trueunkle funka pale ale

As part of our Bristol Beer Week 2018 celebrations we will be showcasing the creativity of our city in the form of three separate collaboration brews.

The second beer in the series is born from an ongoing collaborative experiment, and itch that needed to be scratched, with a shot of neighbourly love. We are lucky enough to be based in the St Werburghs community in Bristol, a hive of independent food and drinks businesses. One of the leading lights is Extract Coffee Roastery. The business was founded nine years ago in a garden shed, and has grown into one of the country’s leading roasteries through a lot of hard graft, immense talent and a collection of vintage coffee roasters from the 1950s, lovingly restored and put to work.

One of their founders and Head Roaster Dave started to discover the wonderful world of beer at the same time our eyes were being opened to good coffee. We got to know each other and started learning from one another, talking through the nuances and similarities between our products, how we work and the wider industries. It wasn’t long before we decided to collaborate on a project.

As we started our company we were focusing heavily on the fresh and fruity flavours and aromas that could be brought through hops and process. Extract were chasing the same flavours and aromas through coffee bean varietals and their techniques – tropical fruits, citrus, berries and always a hint of something complex, something wild. We were both trying to challenge conceptions of what our drinks could offer and were seeking the same response – “Oh I didn’t realise coffee / beer could taste like that.” It was a really exciting time with strong parallels for both young businesses.

There were plenty of beers being released with coffee that was used to emphasize roast flavours like Stouts and Porters. We wanted to extend our theme of challenging preconceptions and make a pale, coffee infused beer bursting with tropical fruits and freshness. Something that was unexpected, and summed up our intentions as creative businesses.

We began work by blending beers and coffees together to start calibrating the project. We did a lot of research with different beers, different coffee varieties from all over the world, different coffee methods from espresso shots to whole beans soaking in beer. After a huge amount of experimentation we did something that’s always difficult to do in a project – to let go of the initial objective. We couldn’t make it work in the way we had hoped. We couldn’t strike the right balance of big fruits without sacrificing another key element of a beer like the body and structure. Some beers made really fruity coffees taste like tomatoes. Some really citrusy coffees made beers taste flat. Both drinks are incredibly complex and volatile and pulling them together just wasn’t working in the way we wanted. However, through a series of further trials what we did start to bring together were softer fruits – plums, peaches, cherries and botanicals like pine and dark chocolate. Certain coffees and beers started paring really well. Something exciting was brewing and we had a new course. Dr Strangelove was released in October 2014.

Fast-forward four years and a new season’s crop of naturally processed beans from La Marianela farm in Columbia, and Dave is at the brewery telling us that this is the fruitiest, weirdest coffee that’s ever landed in the roastery. Dave had developed a new process with the farmers (that you can read more about here) and one of their team went on to win 4th Place in the highly esteemed UK National Barista Championship within weeks of it’s arrival. The idea of making a big, tropical fruit and fresh citrus coffee beer was back on the cards.

Again we experimented a lot with the beans and ran several trials of different methods, dosings and different exposure times. We tasted together and then Dave would go back to the roastery and tweak the way the next run was roasted. The team there have incredible palates and an inspiring understanding of flavour. They are masters of their art and we learn so much just from spending time with them.

We moved away from our original thinking of making a strong India Pale Ale and started exploring lower alcohol beers. Blending with our Small Beer allowed the coffee to come through in a much cleaner and more vibrant way, with no alcohol or malty body to come through the integration with the hops really began to harmonise. Things started to get really exciting.

We opted for a very light roast on the coffee, ground coarsely and added to the fermentation vessel towards the end of fermentation. The grounds were steeped for a day at 23 degrees C, the colder steep bringing out more delicate and fruity notes from the coffee. We paired this with some very floral hops from New Zealand and a new hop product called Cryo Hops. They are freeze dried and ground to a fine powder using a very different process to our conventional hops, and one that focuses in on brightness and freshness. The two key ingredients came together in tank and blended beautifully.

As ever with these things there is always an unexpected twist. As well as the brightness, the big fruits and floral notes, an earthiness and a green pepper, almost green chilli flavour is coming through in the beer. It smells and tastes astonishingly like green, unroasted coffee. We love how this complex and intriguing flavour has emerged and taken the beer in a direction we weren’t planning. We love working with Extract, and we love this beer. We hope you do to.

Unkle Funka Pale Ale will be available from Saturday 8th September when we’ll be celebrating the launch of our Brewed In Bristol beerseries with a party at our brewery tap room. The beer will also be available in bottle and keg in bottle shops and bars across Bristol and nationwide.

idles x wiper and truejoy as an act of resistance ipa

“What is taste? The most visceral microcosm of joys that can take you anywhere for a second. We saw the honour of creating with Wiper and True as an opportunity to take you into our world with beer as it’s vehicle: Violet as the floral tribute to honour beauty in the face of death and Blackcurrant because we are fruity.” IDLES

We’ve always enjoyed creating something unique and Bristol-centric for Bristol Beer week. This year we turned to a feature of the city that has drawn many of us here, inspired us, and makes Bristol a brilliant place to run a business: creativity. We decided that we wanted to work with some of the city’s creative institutions and brew a set of beers to celebrate creativity as a concept.

Collaborating with other brewers is commonplace in our community, it offers the opportunity to explore new ground, to push boundaries or refine shared recipes and elevate styles with shared knowledge. It’s also a good excuse to hang out with friends in the busy world of beer.

Looking beyond our friends in the brewing community for collaborations in the wider creative community has been, in our experience, equally as rewarding and created some of the beers we’re most proud of. Working with other industries opens our minds to new approaches and gives us a broader language. Talking to a coffee roaster brings our attention to acidity in beer. If we invite a winemaker to a tasting all of a sudden we’ll be discussing tannins and minerality. We’ve learnt from gin makers and their knowledge of ancient botanicals. All of these things contribute to the way we approach our recipe design and our process, from the minerality now found in our top selling beer Kaleidoscope, to our use of juniper berries in a double IPA.

These collaborations do however come with a sense of trepidation, and stepping out of the food and flavour world entirely throws up a whole new set of questions. How will these creative forces bring their stamp to the brewing process? How will an artist or organisation express taste? Will our creative processes align?

With IDLES, everything fell into place in the space of the first phone call. The band had spent a lot of time thinking about this, thinking about beer and flavour, and thinking about symbolism. They are clearly a group of people who consider, appreciate and discuss flavour a lot, as you may notice with their regular eloquent and surreal tasting notes of chocolate milk from various countries on their tours.

Lead singer Joe explained how flowers had become significant in the visual identity of IDLES, their suggestion of femininity and association with love, and with death, are representative of themes explored by their music. The process of grief has been focal in their albums. Violets in particular felt significant to them, and after tasting a violet gelato on tour the band began to think about flavour as well as imagery. “It was one of the most intriguing, delicious things I’ve ever tasted” recalledJoe.

He went on to describe how a recent favourite beer of the band is Lindemans Cassis. This Lambic ale undergoes a wild secondary fermentation on blackcurrants and the resulting beer has a sharp tartness and satisfying sweet complexity. The band discussed these two flavours pairing together, the rich fruit of the berries and the delicate aromas of violets, and a recipe began coming together.

We chose to brew an India Pale Ale, a strong, hoppy and fruity beer that could handle and balance such striking flavours and aromas. We chose a simple malt bill and hops that we know have their own wild floral aromas. The only ingredient we added to the mix was Hibiscus,to lend a herbal berry complexity.

The concept came together very quickly and the band came down to brew with us. It’s been a real pleasure to work with them and focusing on symbolism behind flavour, rather than just flavour for flavours sake.

Joy as an Act of Resistance, a violet and blackcurrant India Pale Ale, will be available from Saturday 8th September when we’ll be celebrating the launch of our Brewed In Bristol beer series with a party at our brewery tap room. The beer will also be available in bottle and keg in bottle shops and bars across Bristol and nationwide.

THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ONE-WAY STEEL KEG

The rise of the one-way plastic keg is a phenomenon that has shaped and helped evolve the entire craft beer market. Invented around 1996, they have seen a surge since about 2006 with the rise of the craft beer revolution of Europe. Companies like KeyKeg (2006) have been leading the market for sometime, evolving the design and technology (and reliability). Other plastic keg producers of note include Dolium (2013), EcoKeg (2014) and also the slightly rarer for the UK - Eco Draft (2008) and Eco Fass (2007).

The one-way plastic keg has been a strong factor in boosting the diversity and spread of craft beer across the world. It has been a pivotal invention for small to medium sized breweries. It certainly has been for Wiper and True. By hitting both the right concept (one-way-ness) and the price point (£10-£15 per keg) it has meant that small breweries can cost effectively package their beer, send it all over the country and even worldwide, one way. The wholesale network enables pubs, bars and restaurants to get beer from breweries on the other side of the country without the need for a widespread pickup network meaning that the traditional reach of breweries has been blown wide open. Beer festivals can now easily offer an astonishing array of breweries from all over the country and indeed the world. For small evolving breweries it really has been a wonder vessel for the promotion of their beer.

But unfortunately working with plastic has its drawbacks environmentally. If we carry on using it as we are today, there will be more plastic waste in the sea than fish (by weight) by 2050 (ref: Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2016). Plastic keg producers are starting to realise the true impact of their products on the recycling chain. Because of their ‘complex’ construction, recycling plants may often put them into incineration or landfill piles as they are too expensive to break down to their constituent parts. KeyKeg is trying to tackle this challenge head on and have created One Circle which is aimed at creating a collection and compacting network that gets kegs ready to be processed. One Circle is a good initiative, but very much in its infancy and has not established a nationwide infrastructure yet.

Wiper and True has therefore been looking at the non-plastic options available, for even if a proportion of the keg is made from recycled material, making it will generate some new plastic in the world. We want to be promoting a more sustainable way forward. It means a lot of operational changes for all departments in the brewery but everyone here is keen to see the tides changing.

So, what are the options? Well, owning and managing our own steel kegs is one. Unfortunately this is not a cost effective solution for us right now, as our customers are national, and international. It would require a significant capital investment to buy enough steel kegs and a place to store them plus a keg washer to process them.

Currently the most viable option for us is to work with Kegstar. Kegstar is a growing company, originating from Australia that could potentially revolutionise steel keg distribution globally. They operate a national collection service in the UK for used empties which effectively replicates the the practicality of the one way plastic keg. They also operate inseveral countries around the world (USA, Australia, New Zealand and recently Italy) meaning Kegstar kegs can be sent to export markets and collection is still organised. This is a big bonus! They also have ambitions to add more over the coming years.

This means that once scanned out of our brewery to the bars, pubs and restaurants it becomes Kegstar’s responsibility to pick them up directly from these places. The system operates through an app based system that logs the drop off location and prompts a pick up for empties. It’s modern, thoughtful and progressive.

We’ve had several meetings with Kegstar to talk quality control of the sterile kegs, consistency of deliveries and pickups, and to follow up on any app inconsistencies that may occur. We’ve also been consulting with other breweries that have been using their service specifically about the sterility of the kegs as this is one of our primary concerns. So far thereports have been excellent. They offer cleaning reports for each keg, which is a thoughtful touch and will allow us to track any issues.

So off the back of this research, we decided to trial a few Kegstars in selected local accounts. One of the key things we wanted to analyse was how this impacted dispense. So far it has caused less issues and improved consistency. We have also tested Kegstars' pickup system and although not perfect they are very quick to respond and we are reassured by their commitment to rectify any issues.

So far we feel the reduction in dispense issues and in plastic recycling are without a doubt outweighing the added extra administration. We are very excited to say from 17th September we will be rolling out of steel kegs across production. Together we can aim to develop a more circular, sustainable economy.

We have developed some guides to help customers with this change. This will include a dispense troubleshooting guide and pressure setting charts (according to cellar temperature and gas mix). Please click on the links below to find out more or email us with any queries.

brewer for a day

BECOME A BREWER FOR THE DAY DURING BRISTOL BEER WEEK 2018

Welcoming people in to the brewery for the day to brew with us and learn more about what we do has become one of the highlights of Bristol Beer Week for us. Sharing appreciation, knowledge and excitement about beer is the heart of Bristol Beer Week and we’re really looking forward to opening our doors again this year.

We are offering the opportunity for 2 people to join us for the day and be guided through the creation of one of our beers from beginning to end. That means we’ll also invite you back to enjoy the first tasting of the brew you have helped us craft – and you get a case to take home and share with your friends.

The details:

This year we have one brew date with 2 spaces –

Monday 10th September • 08.00 – 18.00

If you are interested please email your name and contact details to hello@wiperandtrue.com with the subject ‘BBW Brewer for a day’.

The deadline is Wednesday 29th August with names being picked out of a hat and contacted on Friday 31st August.

BREWED IN BRISTOL

A celebration of creativity, community and collaboration

We’ve always enjoyed the sense of collaboration that surrounds Bristol Beer Week but this year we wanted to take it beyond other breweries to try and showcase the incredible creativity, community and collaboration that exists across different industries within our unique city.

To celebrate Bristol Beer Week 2018 we will be showcasing the creativity of our city with three collaboration brews. Our aim is to capture the diverse creativity within Bristol. Two of the beers will be launched at a showcase event at our brewery tap room on Saturday 8th September, this is Bristol Breweries Open Doors Day which will see all of the breweries in Bristol open up their shutters to the public for the day. We’ll be brewing the third collaboration in Bristol Beer Week itself and offering the chance for two people to join us and our collaborators on the brew day.

More announcements on our individual collaborators and the beers we’re brewing will follow. Watch this space.

#BrewedinBristol

fuller's x wiper and true

new english ipa

Words by head brewer Will Hartley

To brew a traditional beer with a modern, creative approach has often seemed to us to be a beautiful thing to do. Respecting centuries of brewing heritage and drinking culture, but also bringing something new to beer is a balance that a lot of people in the industry get excited about. It makes me think of the similarity between a professional kitchen and a brewery: both teams of people looking to produce a modern take on a classic; something that makes perfect sense, at the same time as surprising and inspiring the people who will be enjoying the creation. For us, collaborating with Fuller’s is a perfect opportunity to showcase modern, progressive British brewing.

We have been planning to make a beer with George Young for quite some time. Just before she became Head Brewer at Fuller’s, we met George at a food and beer pairing event. A little while later she very kindly showed a few of us around the brewery at Chiswick (I still feed bad how much of her time we took up!). Since then we have kept in touch, discussing recipe ideas, and I even got to spend a couple of days hanging out in their packaging department.

One recipe idea that we had been bouncing around was to make an IPA with all UK hops. It is a great thing that a lot of brewers are looking to use more UK varieties, and we found that Fuller’s share our interest in new varieties such as Ernest, Jester and Olicana. These have been released in recent years - after lengthy breeding programmes - as fruity alternatives to New World hops. We have found that they are not just fruity; they have complex flavour profiles, including hedgerow-herbiness, sweet nut pastry, and even liquorice or hints of something spicy. Recipe discussion focussed on the fact that these characteristics don’t necessarily lend themselves to the juicy New England style IPA’s that are so prevalent at the moment.

The big fruity flavour and full texture of New England IPAs tends to be driven by the type of yeast used. This is usually a yeast strain that - rather than tasting sharp, dry or bitter - has a creamy and juicy flavour, it will also stay in suspension, giving a hazy or even murky beer. Our English interpretation then would need a fruity, flavourful yeast. Using the Fuller’s house yeast, which produces beers like ESB and their magnificent Vintage Ale, seemed to be the perfect fit.

With the banana and marmalade-like esters produced by the yeast, and the dried fruit, apricot and herbal notes coming from the hops, using rye in the malt bill seemed to fit nicely. Its dryness and spice could contrast well with and balance the fuller body, but it could also complement the bitterness coming from the hops.

We had a great time with George on brew day; she brought the yeast, we brought the cupcakes (our brewer Amanda had made some fantastic treats using London Pride!). And - of course - we put her to work in digging out the mash tun, in true collaboration tradition.

The theme of tradition-meets-modern continued into the packaging of the beer. We casked nearly all of it, but also filled a few kegs to see how it serves from the two different containers. It will be really interesting to hear from drinkers what differences they pick up on.

On the nose we have been getting dried apricots, plenty of banana and dried fruit esters. There are also notes of rye bread - slightly savoury-dry, as well as some grape-like notes. Almond and marzipan are right there on the aroma too. To taste it has full, fruity, banana-y flavours and a finish that seems to be a lovely balance of the rye and hops working together. It has a dry and peppery finish with herbal flavours ranging from hedgerow greenness to hints of hay. The stewed fruit, marmalade and orchard fruit notes dominate though.

Tasting it, we were struck by how nicely it fits the name of New English IPA, given that it seems to be the yeast that is bringing fullness of flavour and tying in all the other things going on. But in a completely different way and flavour profile to the US NEIPAs.

New English IPA will be launching at London Craft Beer Festival this weekend, it will be pouring in cask at the Fuller’s Cask Bar and in keg on our bar. It will also be available at our brewery tap room this weekend, and in venues across Bristol and further afield in the next few weeks.

WE ARE BEERDUGGES X GIPSY HILL X TEMPEST X WIPER AND TRUE

A four way collaboration: a journey through space, time and stout.

Words by Michael Wiper

On the 17th December 2017 an email came in from Greg Wells, one of the founders of the We Are Beer festivals:

I’ll send a more formal invite, but wanted to sound you about an idea we’ve been working on with Magnus and Tomas at Dugges. We’re wanting to launch a We Are Beer brew this year and it be an evolving feature across the festivals. Something that represents our festival and the collective of breweries we work with across cities and the world. Current plan is to brew a big stout @ Dugges during Gothenburg beer week. If it sounds like something you’d be keen to be involved in, both us and the Dugges guys would love you on board.

I’d replied instantly saying yes. We are huge fans of these festivals and have become good friends with the team at Dugges since our first meeting and our Head Brewer Will spent two weeks working with them last winter. They also happen to be brewers of some world famous and unique Imperial Stouts that we are in awe of, and the opportunity to brew one with them was really exciting.

If you haven’t been to any of the We are Beer festivals – in London, Edinburgh and Bristol they come highly recommended by Wiper and True. They are all about celebrating great beer from great breweries and from behind the bar, the subtle twist of their token-less approach is a powerful way of allowing people to feel comfortable about tasting and talking beer with the brewers that made it.

And so the planning started. Dates fixed, flights booked. As things progressed other brewers were confirmed into the mix to represent each festival – Gypsy Hill for London and Tempest for Edinburgh. Both breweries we were delighted to be in the company of. The idea began to emerge about brewing a beer that evolves into different forms for each festival, symbolizing the continuation of the spirit behind the events but also the uniqueness and infinite possibilities of brewing.

Collaborations are an important part of the beer industry and an endless source of fascination for me. They are statements of the camaraderie amongst the smaller players, of the willingness to share and learn from each other, debate, and ultimately to produce a beer that neither contributor would have ever dreamt up before. We have learnt from every collaboration we have been involved in, and each one has shaped how we approach brewing.

The most exciting part for me is gaining an insight into the creative process of other recipe developers. Some are very technical and clearly defined. Some are very spontaneous, and final recipes are put together on the morning of the brew day. However, in the last five years I’d never seen the approach used for this beer before. All four brewers submitted their favourite Imperial Stout recipes from their back catalogue. The team at Dugges then collated them, analysed each one and sent a report comparing and contrasting, getting the debate going. They fused the recipes together to create the super group of Imperial Stouts. We did a little editing here and there, a few tweaks, but in general the base recipe looked great and we were really excited about brewing it.

The discussion then turned to evolution. How could the beer keep developing, bringing something new to each festival whilst retaining its original concept? We decided that instead of brewing three different versions that it would be most interesting to brew one large batch of base beer that would evolve across time, with variations on the exact same batch at each festival.

Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival will play host to the straight up pure version of the stout, infused with a delicate touch of vanilla and cacao. Expect a lusciously thick roasty beer, oozing with chocolate, sweet malts and a smooth finish.

The same base beer will then be infused with more cacao, vanilla and Tonka beans – an aromatic seed from Amazonian giant trees – for release at the London Craft Beer Festival. They taste as exotic as they sound with sweetness reminiscent of vanilla and caramel but also an intriguing spice, cola like, with liquorice and gentle clove. The addition will bring a real complexity and intrigue to the recipe.

The third iteration will see the original beer aged in oak barrels that formerly contained cognac, and packaged just before the festival ready for tasting. The barrels will quicken the aging process and bring complexity, depth of flavor, tannin, oak and a warm spirit from the remnants of the cognac that has seeped into the grain of the wood. This will be ready for the Bristol Craft Beer Festival in September.

It’s going to be a fascinating journey observing how this beer evolves through space and time, and how each version will manifest at the festivals.

The brew day itself happened at the magnificently impressive Dugges Brewery in early April, amidst their shining stainless steel and vast high tech bottling line, as well as their ridiculous generosity. Myself and the other guest brewers stood in awe pretending we were contributing, but largely getting in the way whilst the highly skilled team did their thing. We followed the day with a four brewer tap takeover at the Brewers Beer Bar in Gothenberg in a moment that summed up the trip. As we raised our glasses to the day we raised them to something unique about our industry – supposed competitors coming together to create, share, learn and connect for the sake of a new beer. It felt like something worth celebrating and we hope you’ll join us in doing so at the festivals over summer.

FIERCE BEER X WIPER AND TRUEAZTEC SHAKE

Two years ago after an evening tasting session at the brewery we discovered the bottle photographed above in the back of the brewer’s beer fridge. There’s always a wealth of interesting and unusual brews in there that we each bring back from bottle shops and breweries we’ve visited on our travels or from the brewers homebrewing experiments. But this one caught our attention: ‘Special Beer. Do Not Drink’.

Naturally, we all wanted to open it. One of our founders, Michael, said it was one of his early homebrews, brewed back in 2011. It was a Porter brewed with the addition of Ancho chillies, inspired by a Mexican chocolate and chilli dessert recipe from a great local Bristol business called The Spicery. It was put aside to see how it aged and of course, five years later we couldn’t resist opening it. It was rich, well balanced with an incredible chilli warmth in the finish. Ancho chillies are very mild in heat and so let the real chilli flavour come through, revealing notes of raisin, red pepper, liquorice and chocolate. For all of us, this was a beer we would keep going back to in our memory. It was a stand out beer.

Fast forward to May 2017, we were at Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival. Alongside the other incredible beers on offer, there was one unusual offering that amazed us. The beer was Kindred Kunindra by Fierce Beer Co, a Thai Coconut Porter brewed with the addition of coconut, Kaffir lime, spices and Cayenne pepper. The beer had the familiarity of thai green curry, which has never been a flavour profile we have sought out in a beer! It was intriguing, complex and entirely drinkable. We thought it was a real triumph and it was one of our top beers of the festival. We always love beers that take us by surprise and make us re-think our assumptions.

As the festival season passed and we ran in to the lovely team from Fierce a few times more and became friends. We discussed collaborating on a brew together. These two brews and the use of chilli within a rich, dark beer became focal to the discussion.

We decided we wanted to create a beer which explored the chocolate and chilli combination, fruits and spices, with the mix of gentle heat and rich sweetness. So, on Valentine’s Day with Hot Chocolate playing on the stereo we brewed Aztec Shake together.

Our chosen brew was an Imperial Milk Stout made with copious chocolate malts, cocoa power and vanilla. These ingredients come together to provide an opulent and luxurious flavour profile. The addition of Ancho chillies, like those used in Michael’s Porter homebrew, lend a rich, fruity character with a deep warmth. The further additions of raisins and cinnamon complement the rich fruit sweetness and provide a gentle warming spice.We added all these ingredients both on the hot side during the boil, and then again on the cold side post fermentation. This technique helps to give a great depth of flavour and the right balance of the spices. Together the flavours marry to create a curious balance of sweetness and spice, a real dessert beer.

Aztec Shake is available in keg and bottle across the UK from today and will be available on draft and in bottle at the brewery tap room on Saturday 5th May.

Happy birthday to us!

A trip down memory lane and a look to the future

Quintet, Milk Shake and Kaleidoscope now available in Waitrose

This year, we’re celebrating our fifth birthday and the third anniversary of getting the keys to our own brewery. Our very first brew here at York Street was on April Fool’s Day 2015. This has coincided with a piece of news that we’re excited about as it represents a huge step for us as a small business.

As of 30th April Kaleidoscope Pale Ale, Quintet India Pale Ale and Milk Shake Milk Stout will all be stocked in Waitrose stores across the UK. We’re delighted, it’s made a fantastic 5th birthday present. These milestones have made us reflect on our journey so far and this is best captured by those who make our brewery what it is today - the team behind the beer.

“One of the reasons we decided to start Wiper and True was the response from Michael’s friends and family to his home brewing. Many people said, “I don’t really like beer, but I like that”.

In the five years since we started our local customer base in Bristol has grown, we’ve gained national distribution and have exported our beer to 10 countries. Yet recent figures suggest that craft beer still represents less than 5% of the overall beer sold in the UK (compared to over 20% in the US). That’s a lot of people still to have their beer epiphany, which will be helped by having more craft breweries on supermarket shelves, growing the category for everyone.

As part of the frequently referenced John Lewis Partnership, with its strong principles on ethical purchasing and labour standards, working with Waitrose will help inspire us to be a better business whilst taking our beer to a new audience and growing the number of people enjoying better beer.

Experimentation with a view to refinement of our craft is central to our character and will continue to be. We're proud that Waitrose ha embraced the ever-changing hop profiles in our Kaleidoscope Pale Ale and Quintet India Pale Ale.”

Martin Saunders, Commercial Director

What’s been your favourite Wiper and True beer so far?

“The first time I ever came to Bristol I went to The Barley Mow and tried Milkshake. It is - and probably always will be - my favourite beer. I love Milk Stouts, anything that tastes like dessert! I have also, coincidentally, got to brew it lots so I’ve gotten to become quite familiar with it and watched the recipe evolve over the last couple of months.” Amanda, Brewer

“Phantasmagoria. I think it is exquisite beer, served from a unique setting. The ratings are backing that up.” Francesca, Director

“That’s like choosing a favourite child! The Keeper Beer Barley Wine, which was eventually blended with XK Ale collaboration with Partizan, holds so many memories for me. We generally only had it pouring at events or cracked a bottle at celebrations so it has a sense of occasion and happy memories associated with it. But more than that it is a divine sweet, vanilla and caramel elixir from heaven” Vicky, Sales and Marketing.

“Most recently Vital One, XX, and Hard Shake. I also loved Don't Get Lemon and single hop Citra IPA. Ultimately I'd have to go for single hop Mosaic Pale.” Chris, Warehouse Manager

“I’m really proud of Kaleidoscope. We designed the beer from the ground up, taking on the challenge of brewing a fairly low strength beer but retaining all the body and flavour we had come to love in our stronger Pale Ales. It was a meeting of minds of all aspects of the team and I think that really comes through in the beer. We focused on my favourite part of a good beer - contradictions. We wanted it to be simple but complex at the same time, full bodied but crisp, smooth but with a bitter kick, effervescent but soft, packed with hops but still balanced… I feel like we have achieved those ambitions and despite it being our most frequently brewed beer I always look forward to one, and then enjoy it immensely.” Michael, Founder

“All The Colours of the Dark. It was the most awesome Sour Black IPA which we brewed in collaboration with Hell Fire Video Club.” Karl, Brewer

“Sweet, nectar of the Gods KaleiDIPA, the first batch of Phantasmagoria and the clean, BA Bristol Vice which is being released soon.” Lucy, Sales and Marketing

“Barrel Aged Imperial Milk Stout Hard Shake in Woodford Reserve Barrels was an absolute sensation. Blew me away. But I'm really looking forward to what other beers come out of the wood. But also Phantasmagoria is an incredible IPA, hard to beat a super fresh tank beer.” Joe, Operations Manager

What did you enjoy most / are you most proud of in the last three years at Wiper and True?

“Becoming a forklift driver! Moving up to the new warehouse and office and getting the warehouse up and running. I guess just keeping things running while we get busier and busier.” Chris, Warehouse Manager

“Being involved in all aspects of a beer’s life with the XX project and working more closely with the women in the team to create something so special. Seeing people enjoying the beer and getting behind the concept at the launch and online was great” Lucy, Sales and Marketing

“Working with the whole team in developing the various projects that we have been rolling out over the past couple of years. Each new project is more exciting than the last.” Joe, Operations Manager

“Opening our tap room with fresh tank beer and starting our tours are undeniably headline achievements. It does so much more than just sell beer.” Francesca, Director

“I attend lots of events and festivals which are always enjoyable. Of all the beer festivals we attend, London Craft Beer Festival is always the one I most look forward to. It captures the energy of the craft beer community – it’s relaxed, fun and always filled with lots of laughs and incredible beers.” Vicky, Sales and Marketing

“I have been so proud to see the business and the team growing and thriving over the last three years. It’s such a great place to work, simply because of the team itself and because of the pride that we all have in the brand and the product.” Claire, Accounts

What are you excited about in the coming months and years?

“There’s lots to be excited about! New tap room plans, barrel projects - but I think I’m most excited about helping develop the new sensory program. I think beer tasting is very important and not only benefits us as a company when talking about our beer to consumers or identifying if there are faults or defects along the beers life-time but I think it’s damn interesting! And there’s lots to know about different compounds and how everyone reacts to them.” Amanda, Brewer

“I’m really looking forward to developments in the barrel ageing project and seeing the curious process of ageing beers unfold. It’s a wild and unpredictable journey and one that is hugely satisfying to observe. The results are often so captivating, with the oak and yeasts adding new dimensions to the beer. I also have lots of ideas about new beer recipes that we are keen to develop and hone in the next year, introducing new yeasts, hops and brewing techniques as we go.” Michael, Founder

BARREL AGEING PROGRAMMENEW RELEASES

As Easter approaches and that lingering winter seems to be behind us once and for all, we have our next instalment of releases from our barrel-ageing programme. Our first releases explored the individual nuances that barrels with different histories can bring to the beer they hold – we aged one beer, Winter Palace Imperial Stout, in four different kinds of barrel. Our next two releases explore how barrel ageing can elevate and emphasise the character of the beers which age within them.

Cuveé Des Simples

In the summer of 2017, we collaborated with Brasserie du Mont Saleve on a Saison with gin and tonic inspired flavours. The beer was brewed with the British Ale yeast strain Yorkshire Square and an infusion of gin botanicals and cucumber. The result, Yorkshire Blanc, was light, refreshing and had an intriguing floral complexity. We got some oak barrels which had held London Dry Gin from a local distillery – previous to this one had held white wine and one Bourbon. We were interested to discover how the gin character retained within the barrels would express itself in the beer, our hope was that it would accentuate the floral notes that we had been so drawn to in the unaged version. The rich and varied history of the barrels translates into a multi-faceted flavour profile – the botanicals are there, in harmony with a distinct white wine character and a discernible oak finish. Although perhaps a counterintuitive way to describe a beer that has such complexity, Simples translates as herbs with botanical flavours.

Bourbon Hard Shake

Hard Shake is an Imperial Milk Stout developed from our Milk Shake Milk Stout recipe. The intention was to create something decadent, a stout that was bigger, richer and more luxurious than not only Milk Shake but previous batches of Hard Shake. The beer is brewed with copious chocolate malts and the addition of cacao nibs. We also soak fresh vanilla pods in Bourbon before steeping them in the wort to enhance the headiness and complexity of the beer. Ageing it in Woodford Reserve Bourbon barrels felt like the perfect marriage. Our hope was that it would accentuate the opulence and complexity of the beer. The result is a lusciously rich, velvety and satisfying Stout with deep chocolate notes.

TAKING STOCKBRETT INDIA PALE ALE

You may have heard it said before – hops, malts, water and yeast are the four ingredients that are the foundation of nearly every beer. Within these ingredients there are endless variations which mean that the possibilities in brewing are infinite. It is this constant ability to experiment and refine that is central to how and why we brew.

Our head brewer Will Hartley is a fan of the adage "Brewers make wort but yeast makes beer." Recently we have been exploring the yeast varieties we use to make our beer. Until now, all our beers have been fermented using Saccharomyces yeast. There is huge variation between the individual strains of this species: think of our clean, crisp lager in contrast to the banana and clove esters from our White Wheat Beer – both are flavours determined by the yeast strain. Brewers have cultivated yeast strains over decades so that they are predictable in their fermentation and flavour profile. The beer writer Michael Jackson used the analogy of a dog to describe Saccharomyces – it’s trainable, reliable and mostly predictable.

Brettanomyces (Brett) is a yeast genus often found on fruit skins in the wild, and certain varieties are suited to fermenting beers. It behaves very differently to Saccharomyces. Two identical worts inoculated with Brettanomyces at different times and in different ways can create two completely different beers. The writer Jackson furthers his analogy: ‘if Saccharomyces is a dog, Brett is like a cat’. It is less predictable and it does its own thing. However, if you respect it and suggest rather than dictate what it does in your fermentation it can be rewarding.

Brett was first studied as a spoilage yeast by winemakers and brewers; without appropriate hygienic practices it’s easy for Brett to get into tanks and bottling lines, as it is common in the atmosphere. Its unpredictable nature and unusual flavour profile was, and still is, considered undesirable in some conventional processes. In his speech at the Carnival Brettanomyces in Amsterdam last year, Richard Preiss of Escarpment labs told us of the days where wine brands would have stickers saying ‘No Brett Here’ on their bottles.

Much like its well behaved counterpart, Brett has many strains and the flavours created by each vary widely. Brettanomyces has a less palatable sounding array of flavours associated with its fermentations and some strains are associated with ‘horse blanket’ or farmyard flavours, plasters, sweaty mangoes, smokiness or spiciness. As a result, this yeast can challenge many drinkers’ idea of what beer should taste like.

But when it works it really works. Brett in the right balance can provide depth of flavour, texture and aroma and really bring a beer to life. It can create tropical fruits, florality, minerals, sour cherries or a satisfying earthiness. It can provide such complexity that not only do bottles in the cellar evolve over time, but the beer changes from sip to sip, drawing you in as a drinker and constantly making you rethink. It’s an addictive pursuit and those flavours that at first seem alien become captivating.

Many Belgian beers gain their true colours from Brettanomyces. But Brett has a pivotal role in British brewing history and has been a defining characteristic of a lot of our classic styles: Porters, Old Ales, Stock Ales, Imperial Stouts and perhaps even India Pale Ales. The yeast has been driven out of British beer, but is something that we are keen to explore, highlight and bring back.

For many of these beers the character came from secondary, longer term fermentations with Brett, where more ‘funky’ flavours arise – something we are exploring with our barrel aging programme. Ready for release now is a beer that uses Brett in the primary fermentation in place of Saccharomyces. When used in primary fermentation, Brettanomyces can produce bold, vivid fruit flavours and aromas. The strain chosen has been cultivated by our yeast laboratory and identified as bringing strong tropical fruit flavours, minerality and only the tiniest hint of horse!

These characteristics make the yeast a perfect pairing for the hop flavours we wanted to showcase for our first Brett beer, ‘Taking Stock’. It’s a 6.7% India Pale Ale with orange and peach notes that come from a combination of the Brett strain that brings tropical fruit complexity, and lots of Simcoe that was used in dry-hopping. This both brightens and adds depth to the flavour profile. The pairing of Simcoe and Brett also provides hints of spice, which accents and enhances the fruity character, while providing balance to the higher-ABV mouthfeel and dry finish.

Taking Stock Brett IPA is available in keg, and will be pouring at our brewery tap room this Saturday 17th March.

XX

a celebration of the role of women in the world of beer

Last November a conversation over some beers with a friend set the wheels in motion for XX. My friend told me that by getting to know the team at Wiper and True, and by tasting beers with me on numerous occasions, her perception of beer and working in a brewery had changed. Seeing our female brewers at work and having to tolerate me constantly talking about beer had highlighted to her the positive role of women in brewing.

With International Women’s Day around the corner, it seemed the perfect time to celebrate the fact that women brew, promote, distribute, drink, critique and enjoy beer. Producing a beer that is made from start to finish by the women in our team felt like a fitting tribute. So we got to work developing a recipe for a beer that celebrates the longstanding contribution that women have made to the world of beer, and the XX brew was born.

Meet the XX team

Brewer – AmandaJoining us as a quality control expert from Molson Coors in Canada, Amanda has been a pivotal brewer at Wiper and True for three years. Her focus for 2018 is developing our sensory analysis programme and improving our quality assurance.

Brewer – FloFlo joined us in 2016 after graduating from the University of Bristol. She was introduced to the world of beer by her Master Brewer father Derek Orford and she has recently passed her IBD foundation qualification. She is one of our three brewers and is also training as a beer sommelier.

Assistant Brewer – CynthiaCynthia started with us last year; before this she was working at Cantillon in Belgium. Cynthia has recently attained her IBD foundation qualification. She aids the smooth running of brew and packaging days and also hosts the tours in our tap room.

Sales and Marketing - LucyLucy is on the front line, responsible for taking orders, getting beer to our customers and generally ensuring the good ship Wiper and True stays afloat.

Director – FrancescaFrancesca has been with the brewery since the early days. She works on strategy, HR and individual projects.

Finance – ClaireClaire has been on the team since 2014; she ensures all our bills are paid on time and manages our financial planning, payroll, cash flow and other such vital money matters.

Sales and Marketing – Vicky (that’s me)I joined Wiper and True in 2015. I organise and represent the brewery at events, manage our social media and online content and also manage our tap room. I also spend a fair amount of time staring at spreadsheets, working on sales analysis and I work with the brew team on product development.

Named XX to represent the female chromosomes, our chosen brew is a Gooseberry Wheat Beer brewed with botanicals. Tart, refreshing and crisp, these fresh characteristics felt like a good fit with spring just around the corner.

We chose to add botanicals as a nod to the provenance of women in beer history and a tribute to our alewife predecessors. It is largely acknowledged that before the industrialisation and commercialisation of brewing in the UK, making beer was the domain of women. These women were known as alewives and they sold their excess ales for profit in alehouses, at markets and from their doorsteps. The symbol of a broomstick was historically associated with alewives, as it is thought they hung a stick above their doorframe to indicate when they had ale to sell.

Some claim that the alewife’s broomstick is an association with the stereotype of a witch that we know today. Although the historical veracity of this is debateable, further comparisons have been drawn: alewives’ tall pointy hats enabled them to be visible in the crowd at market, they kept cats to keep mice away from their grains and of course, the bubbling cauldron was how they made their ales. Alewives used botanicals to preserve and flavour ales, sometimes with unexpected side effects. Psychoactive and aphrodisiac properties of these botanicals led to claims alewives were ‘bewitching’ their drinkers. In homage to these alewives (but without the psychoactive and aphrodisiac effects, as far as we know) we chose to add the botanicals heather and meadowsweet to our Gooseberry Wheat. These lend floral complexity and complement the tart fruitiness of the gooseberry.

We’re proud to work in the beer industry. We love what we do and we love beer. We hope that this XX brew gives visibility to women in the industry and encourages more women to take joy in making and drinking beer.

The beer with be available across the UK in bottle and on draft. It will be pouring in all Draft Houses (www.drafthouse.co.uk) on Thursday 8th March, International Women’s Day. There will also be launch parties celebrating the beer’s release across the UK:

We hope you’ll join us and #celebrateXX by toasting women everywhere on #internationalwomensday.

Wiper and True will be donating part of the profits from this beer to Bristol Women’s Voices, a charity that works to make women’s equality in Bristol a reality.

BRISTOL CRUSHGRAPEFRUIT PALE ALE

Bristol is known for many things but for most it is the vibrant communities and party atmosphere that endure in happy memories of the city. Bristolians don’t take themselves too seriously. We built a giant water slide down one of the busiest roads in the centre, this sense of fun and playfulness is one of the things we love best about our city. Bristol Crush is our ode to the place we are lucky to call our home.

There’s nothing that better encapsulates Bristol’s energy than St Pauls Carnival, a celebration of the African Caribbean culture of Bristol that brings sunshine to the streets of the St Pauls neighbourhood on the first weekend of July. In recent history the festival has struggled to obtain funding, and after a three year hiatus the festival will be back in 2018 to celebrate it’s 50th year. The carnival happens on the doorstep of our brewery and we’re so excited that this mega party is returning to our neighbourhood next year. We looked to this riot of colour and fun as inspiration for Bristol Crush and the Caribbean soft drink Ting captured our imagination.

Brewed with the addition of grapefruit, Bristol Crush is packed with bright, bold citrus hops producing a beer that is refreshing, vibrant and tropical.

To celebrate it's release Bristol Crush will be pouring across the city of Bristol on Wednesday 20th December. You can find a list of venues that will be pouring the beer below.

Bristol Crush will also be pouring and available to buy in bottle at our tap room on Saturday 23rd December.

Barrel Aged beer seriesfirst release

winter palace - aged four ways

We’re pleased to announce the first release from our barrel aged beer series, Winter Palace Imperial Stout. Aged in four different kinds of barrel.

It has been a long-held ambition to begin barrel ageing beers. It feels like the next natural step for us in our exploration and experimentation and is an important facet for some beer styles. In order to respect the art of barrel ageing, which requires care, time and attention, we’ve appointed Will Davies as head of our barrel ageing programme here at the brewery. Will has been brewing with us for two years, and will continue to split his time between the brewery and the barrel ageing beers. Will’s exceptional palate, creativity and most importantly - patience, make him the perfect guardian of our barrels.

As a team we’re fascinated by the properties you can get from barrel ageing – there is an unknown character to barrels which is transcendent. When the alcohol they previously held is no longer present unexpected flavours are unveiled and subtleties become more defined. Discovering the secrets each barrel holds is a huge part of the excitement.

We chose to make our first release single barrel and unblended so we are able to compare and contrast the different barrels, aged for the same length of time with the un-aged version of the beer. We intend to blend the majority of our future releases but we thought this would be an interesting place to start, to showcase the individual nuances barrels with different histories can bring to the beer.

The base beer, Winter Palace is an Imperial Stout brewed to a traditional recipe. It is filled with rich, roasted tones including bitter chocolate, molasses, dark fruit and coffee which combine to create a luscious, silky beer. We released our first brew of Winter Palace in November 2016, it’s depth and intensity made it a firm favourite among the team. It was understated, yet made an impact and was memorable. Whilst it stood up well on its own, we all agreed it would be the perfect beer to showcase the complexities and nuances that barrel ageing can bring.

We brewed a second batch in January this year, packaged some un-aged, then filled a Tequila, Rye Whiskey, Red Wine and Port barrel with the beer and aged each for six months. It’s fantastic to be able to share the finished beers and welcome you on our journey.

As these are the first releases from our barrel ageing programme we thought they were worthy of a celebration, so we’ll be showcasing each of the beers at different venues across the UK in a series of different events. Each event will have both an aged and the unaged version of the beer pouring so you are able to taste for yourself the differences barrel-ageing contributes.

PHANTASMAGORIAindia pale ale

OUR BREWERY-EXCLUSIVE TANK BEER

One of the greatest privileges and pleasures we have as brewers is tasting beer straight from tank, at its very freshest and in its most raw and pure form. These attributes come together to form more than just a sum of their parts, elevating particular beers in a subtle but certain way. As the brewing community is such a welcoming industry, our affection for tank beer has been shaped as much by visiting other brewers and tasting their beer fresh and unadulterated as our own in-house experiences. I tasted The Cotswold Brewery’s 3.8% lager from their conditioning tank on packaging day and can remember every last detail about it - it was the best lager I had ever tasted - pure joy. Anyone who has tasted a freshly dry-hopped Pale Ale from fermentation vessel at the Kernel brewery, or a lambic straight out of barrel at Cantillion will have a similar story to tell. When we discussed opening up our brewery to visitors our excitement focused on the opportunity to be able to offer this experience and share what we are lucky enough to have access to every day.

As the conversation evolved we began to think about playing on the aspects of tank beer that we have come to love, and rather than simply offer up whatever we had brewing, we decided to design a specific beer with these features in mind. Freshness; brightness; young-ness; and ephemeral hop character bringing fruit notes, zest, florality and herbal qualities so fragile they deteriorate in the distribution chain.

We chose to focus on a hazy, juicy India Pale Ale dry-hopped towards the end of fermentation to pronounce hop character. We are one of the first breweries in the UK to use a newly developed yeast strain from White Labs, London Fog. This yeast has been developed specifically for use in this style of beer, to accentuate fruitiness and lend a full-bodied and smooth mouthfeel. The beer has been dry-hopped at very high rate for this style of beer, with 12g per litre of bright, bold New World hops renowned for their tropical fruit flavours and fresh floral notes. We’re proud of the resulting beer and can’t wait to welcome you into our brewery to try it from tank.

Phantasmagoria, our brewery-exclusive India Pale Ale tank beer will be available to drink in at our tap room and also to take-out in 750 ML bottles poured to order on Saturdays from 13.00 – 19.00.

PILOT BREW SERIESTOBACCO PORTER

Bristol Beer week 2017PEACE, PLENTY AND PORTER

Out this week: a limited release in celebration of Bristol Beer Week.

Giving a nod to Bristol’s industrial and brewing heritage, we’ve made a Tobacco Porter. Brewing in Bristol from 1788 up until 1999, George’s was well known for it’s Porter. In fact, their company motto was ‘Peace, Plenty and Porter’. An excellent mantra to live by. At their height George’s were putting out in the region of 7,300 barrels a week so it seems the people of Bristol and further afield were indeed heeding their advice.

Using our Plum Pudding Porter as a base, we fermented this Tobacco version in our Pilot Brew fermenter vessel – adding the tobacco in the form of an extract. Contrary to what you might expect, tobacco imparts a rich, sweet perfume and soft toffee and liquorice notes which perfectly complement the robust chocolate and dark fruit flavours of the Porter.

We hope you all have a fantastic Bristol Beer Week that lives up to George’s old adage.

Dugges x Wiper and TrueCardinal Sour

Still Sour AleReleased: Indy Man Beer Con 2017

We’re lucky to count the team from Dugges as firm friends of the brewery. Back in January this year our head brewer Will Hartley spent two works working alongside them in Sweden in order to learn more about their processes and brewing style – and brew our previous collaboration together, a pine infused Double IPA called Twin Pines.

Whilst over in Gothenburg Will and Magnus from Dugges were discussing red wine (we don’t always talk about beer) and whether a beer could impart the same flavour profile associated with red wine (OK, maybe we do). The interplay of rich red berries, acidity, tannins and oak became the subject of intense debate. Could those intricacies and nuances of flavour be created in a beer?

When we heard the guys were heading over to the UK, we set a date for another brew and the red wine beer conversation re-surfaced and we decided to give it a go. The beer chosen was a kettle sour, the intention being this would contribute the slight acidity needed. A malt base with a clean flavour profile but the colour of dark cedar wood was soured overnight. The bacteria strain we used was Lactobacillus Plantarum, provided by our friends at Lallemand. In the boil we added blackberries to contribute bright, sweet berry notes and acidity. In order to elevate and accentuate these flavours, we boiled up a hibiscus and oak tea and added this post-fermentation. Hibiscus flowers lend a floral top note but are also tannin rich. The French oak used was specifically chosen to impart mellow fruit flavours over vanilla or spice found from some oak varieties. We’ve mentioned here flavour intention, but of course the addition of blackberry and hibiscus also provide a fantastic claret hue to the beer.

The resulting brew is beautifully complex with punchy fruit notes and a balance of tannins and acidity. Having tried it direct from tank, we liked how serving it still contributed to it’s mouthfeel, it was one of the best we’ve tried from tank, so we have decided to showcase Cardinal Sour served still at Indy Man Beer Con this week. We can’t wait for you to join in the red wine debate, come and find us at the Thursday or Friday sessions of the festival.

COLLABORATION SERIESBRISTOL CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL

“Welcome to the world of craft beer, this is what it’s all about”

Dustin Watts, Terrapin Beer Company, Georgia US

At Bristol Craft Beer Festival this year, we are celebrating and showcasing collaborative brewing. We wanted to bring something new to our Bristol drinkers whilst also championing a unique and integral part of our industry. Sharing knowledge and resources is commonplace in the brewing industry, flying in the face of conventional business thinking. We started out as home brewers and the support and generosity of established brewers with their knowledge and time has got us to where we are today. This spirit of camaraderie endures in the industry particularly through collaborative brewing, in turn progressing our craft and creating incredible beers. Although each of us have travelled different routes into brewing and working in the beer industry, here at Wiper and True each member of the team could cite a brewery or a beer that inspired their interest. If you had access to our internal messaging service, our respect and admiration for other breweries is evident – as it is filled with images of beers we’re each trying around Bristol, sometimes around the world. Being able to brew alongside some of them is a privilege and a pleasure that we relish.

We have several different approaches to working with other breweries. Our collaborations with UK ones are usually born out of friendships and ideas thrown around over a few beers, which are then made reality over email or skype and on the brew day itself. The Bristol IPA collaboration created in celebration of Bristol Craft Beer Festival with Deya, Verdant and Left Handed Giant came about this way. It was fantastic to work alongside three breweries who each make their own, distinctive India Pale Ales – here small nuances in technique and knowledge enabled us to come together a create a beer that was the sum of our parts, a beer we’re proud to have made and which showcases a small slice of the fantastic South West brewing community.

We have tried to focus our international collaborations around the coming together of two cultures, so we look to each brewery’s respective country and their brewing, drink or food culture and see how things pair. We have three beers made with breweries from overseas in the line-up at Bristol Craft Beer Festival, each is inspired by a different spirit as a starting concept. A Saison with gin & tonic inspired flavours including a cucumber twist brewed with Brasserie du Mont Saleve. With Birrificio Del Ducato from Italy we’ve created an 8% Strong Ale brewed with dried apricots. And seeking inspiration from the Dutch spirit Genever, we brewed a Double IPA called Crescendo with Van Moll from Eindhoven. Characterised by English caramel malt flavours and brewed with the addition of juniper berries and fresh lemon zest, the resulting beer showcases a fascinating interplay between botanicals and hops. Each of these beers has introduced us to new ingredients, new techniques and made us revisit and explore our British brewing heritage.

Sometimes collaborations can take you back to the experimentation and freedom of home brewing where the focus is entirely on the possibility of creating something new and extraordinary. Our collaboration with Stillwater and Left Handed Giant, a Malted Milk Stout – Vital One, brewed with the addition of skimmed milk powder – certainly did that. We weren’t certain on how the milk powder would react in the brew process, and let’s just say it took several hours (longer) cleaning the mash tun, copper and FV after the brew. The toil was worth it, the resulting brew is a rich, comforting malty Milk Stout.

It’s important to us to collaborate with people outside of the brewing industry too, working with people with different perspectives on flavour, a different ethos or just a different passion that inspires us. We’ve had a close working relationship with Chomp, a steak and burger restaurant, since our outset. Their dedication to simplicity and perfection, essentially doing one thing well (they have just one burger on their menu, alongside a monthly special). This is aligned with what drives us too, the quest to make beer that is perfect, the best it can be. We collaborated with them on Chomp House Brew, brewed to be paired with their house burger. The beer pouring at Bristol Craft Beer Festival is the 13th batch we have made together, although each beer has similarities – a rich, toffee malt base with bright, citrus hop character – the recipe has evolved with each brew and we’re pleased with this latest progression where grapefruit hop character is complemented by a sweeter, caramel malt base.

We’re proud to showcase these 6 collaborative brews at Bristol Craft Beer Festival this year from September 15th - 17th. Each beer is unique and all were challenging, rewarding and have progressed us in our journey. Big thanks to Left Handed Giant, DEYA, Verdant, Bristol Craft Beer Festival, Brasserie Du Mont Saleve, Birrificio Del Ducato, Van Moll, Stillwater and Chomp.

crescendoVan Moll x Wiper anD true

DOUBLE INDIA PALE ALEINSPIRED BY GENEVER

Released in keg today, Crescendo Double India Pale Ale brewed in collaboration with Van Moll, a leading brewery and brewpub from The Netherlands. The beer was brewed to be showcased at Van Moll Fest in Eindhoven at the end of the month where we will be pouring alongside a host of great European breweries including De Molen, To ol, Brussels Beer Project, Buxton, Magic Rock and of course, our hosts. We can't wait.

Whenever we make beers with breweries from overseas we try and bring a bit of each brewing, drinks or food culture to the table and see how they pair. For example, we have just packaged up a French style Saison with a gin and tonic and cucumber twist brewed with Brasserie du Mont Saleve. And with Birrificio Del Ducato from Italy we’ve created a 7% Strong Ale with apricots and almonds, reminiscent of Amaretto. More on those later in the month. When we began this discussion with Van Moll both breweries began to get excited about the opportunity to explore Genever, the Dutch national spirit and precursor to Gin. This spirit is a blend of two distillates – a whiskey-like malt distillate and a juniper, and sometimes lemon, infused distillate. The pairing of juniper and lemon with some massive fruity hops seemed like an idea worth of a big, fresh India Pale Ale, bringing an English influence to the Dutch inspiration.

We settled on a Double India Pale Ale, characterised by English caramel malts and brewed with the addition of juniper berries and fresh lemon zest in the fermentation vessel. These botanicals intertwine with the hops Citra, Ekuanot and Mosaic chosen for their zesty, fruit character. Erwin and Janneke from Van Moll flew over to Bristol and we had a great day brewing together and trying out some new techniques for both breweries. We fermented on London Ale III yeast, becoming famous for how it complements hops and fruits in modern India Pale Ales.

The resulting brew showcases a fascinating interplay between botanicals and hops on a light caramel malt base. It has heady aromas of spirit, lemon and hop complexity, is rich and fruity on the palate and finishes with a clean bitterness.

Crescendo will be pouring at Van Moll Fest later this month and will also be available in limited quantity in keg only across the UK from today.

PILOT KIT EXPERIMENTATION brewing A BRITISH SAISON

“Saison is a philosophy and not a beer style because it’s brewing what’s available however possible”

Brian Strumke, of Stillwater Artisanal Ales (Baltimore, Maryland)

One of the defining characteristics from our first brew to our latest release, our 451st brew no less, has been experimentation – motivated by exploring the endless possibilities we can create with the four traditional ingredients in beer and beyond. This philosophy couldn’t be better encapsulated in a style than by a Saison.

Originally Farmhouse ales, brewed for seasonal workers on French and Belgian farms, Saisons were brewed with fresh local ingredients and fermented with a yeast cultured up on each farm. Each beer would be unique and a product of the land around them. In 2015 we brewed a Saison using Elderflowers we’d foraged from around the brewery in St Werburghs, looking to the brewery's surroundings for inspiration and honouring the heritage and philosophy of the Saison.

With every Saison we have brewed before we have bought in commercially available yeasts from Belgian or French breweries. To pursue the spirit of the style further we started to wonder if there are any British yeast strains that could have those fantastic farmhouse characteristics that have become so definitive in modern Saisons. We wrote to White Labs, a pioneering yeast laboratory, and soon had an animated reply from Troels Prahl, their Head of Research and Development. He explained that, just by chance, he had recently done some DNA analysis and had noticed that two classic British yeast strains look a lot in structure like the Saison yeasts they sell.

In modern British brewing we control the temperature of fermentation very precisely. Most brewing yeast can give off unwanted flavours and faults if they get too hot. However Saison brewers would not have had any methods of temperature control, so the fermentations would have risen in temperature to wherever the yeast wanted to take it. The farmhouse yeasts they cultured react differently to conventional brewing yeast and produce phenols and esters that bring wonderful flavours of spices and fruits when left to run wild. We began a discussion about how these particular British yeasts would react if we abandoned our usual temperature controls during fermentation and devised a really simple recipe of Pale Ale Malt and Wheat. Troels couldn’t say for sure but he felt it was worth experimenting with and sent us some samples to start playing with.

The recent addition of two 100 litre fermentation vessels in the brewery has allowed higher risk experimentation like this. We got to work with Pilot Brews experimenting with the two different British yeast strains. Gyle 0408 used Yorkshire Square Ale Yeast, a very traditional strain used by brewers of that region fermenting in open square vessels, often made of slate. Many drinkers will be very familiar with the characteristics of the beers produced with this yeast and its pairing with malty, rich English ales.

We pitched the yeast, turned the chillers off and waited in anticipation. The first flavours and aromas that came through were definitely weird, but we couldn’t really pin them to anything. Muddled and just, well… strange! But around day 3 of fermentation some lovely notes of clove and spice began to emerge, at first more reminiscent of a German Wheat beer than anything else. As the days went on bold fruits began to come through, with a real brightness that started to bring the flavours together. We kept the beer conditioning for another week and over that time it developed into a delightfully light, fruity, estery, spicy, crisp and complex beer that is surprisingly Saison-like.

We packaged up the test and got feedback from lovely drinkers at The Old Butcher’s, a couple of recent tap takeovers and willing visitors to the brewery. The response was as we’d hoped – surprise and intrigue, and the positivity has instilled confidence that the Yorkshire Square Ale yeast experiments have created something exciting.

We’ve honed the recipe and brewed a full-sized batch of our first British Farmhouse Ale inspired by the philosophy of Saison brewing. We’ve added Oats into the grain bill (in true Saison style this beer fermented out to almost completely dry – 1002.5 in gravity – so we wanted to retain a bit of body without adding sweetness) and brewing with some really exciting modern British Hops that bring unique fruit notes. This beer is due for release in August, we’ll be announcing full details of the launch shortly.

The second yeast strain from White Labs is sitting in our pilot vessel now. More to follow…

EDINBURGH CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL

Edinburgh Craft Beer FestivalBiscuit Beer Series26/05/17 – 28/05/17

The inaugural Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival will be held at The Biscuit Factory, once home to Crawford’s biscuit production. After several dormant years, it’s vibrancy has returned having been reincarnated as an arts and exhibition space. To celebrate the event and the venue’s heritage, we have brewed a series of beers inspired by our favourite accompaniments to our second favourite type of brew.

The recent addition of two 100 litre fermentation vessels in the brewery has meant we’ve been able to begin a series of experimental brews which test potential recipes and concepts for beer before we go big and brew them to full scale. It also allows us to make beers for one-off events just like Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival.

Which biscuits should be our guiding light and become the concept for the development of the beers was an impossible decision, so we decided to leave it down to chance. Each of our brewers chose from a hat which biscuit they were to design a recipe for and brew. The biscuits picked were: Shortbread, Jammie Dodger and Bourbon Cream.

Our beer inspired by a Jammie Dodger is an Amber Ale that aims to maximise the strawberry jam notes brought by the hop Motueka alongside the addition of a strawberry infusion and a couple of jars of jam. The resulting brew has a rich biscuity malt base accompanied by notes of sweet strawberries.

Next up comes the Bourbon Cream. An Imperial Milk Stout brewed with the addition of cacao nibs to bring creamy chocolate flavours and vanilla extract that has been aged in oak barrels to bring elegance and lend a biscuity tone.

And last but not least we have the regal Shortbread for which we’ve created a beer that possesses the rich buttery-ness of it’s namesake. This beer has been brewed to contain high levels of Diacetyl. This compound is a by-product of fermentation which produces flavours of butter or butterscotch. It is used in the food industry to produce artificial butter flavours. In some beer styles it can add complexity and depth, however it is most often considered a fault as it can be indicative of poor brewing procedures and can make a beer seem one-dimensional if it is dominant. All beers produce diacetyl during fermentation, usually it is absorbed and broken down by the yeast to flavourless compounds – so a beer will lose it’s buttery character as it ages. Here, we were looking to keep this flavour in order to mirror our Shortbread biscuit so we altered our usual brewing procedures in order to retain diacetyl in the beer. The addition of vanilla adds a touch of sweetness to this rich, buttery diacetyl bomb.

All three of our biscuit beers will be pouring at every session of Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival over the weekend of 26 -28th May.

TAP TAKEOVER

THE BOTTLE SHOP TAPROOM, BERMONDSEY19/05/2017 – 20/05/2017

On Friday 19th and Saturday 20th May we’ll be heading to The Bottle Shop in Bermondsey where we’ll be showcasing 10 different beers including the first pour of our new India Pale Ale Returning Ernest.

Returning Ernest is a new take on the India Pale Ale style. Originally a creation of English breweries, the India Pale Ale has been transformed by our cohorts in the US. This recipe aims to be part of the next chapter of the story by combining pioneering fresh English hops with yeast originating from New England to create a truly transatlantic version.

In particular this brew showcases Ernest, a hop we were introduced to at the Charles Faram hop walk on a sunny day in Autumn last year. As soon as we smelled the incredible aromas we were fascinated to explore the flavours they could produce in a beer. In this particular brew Ernest, along with two other experimental UK hops - Cascade and Olicana brings flavours of berries, lychees and apricots.

Also pouring will be 3 beers from our Pilot Kit Series. These beers are created in limited 100 litre batches to inform and inspire our brews of the future. Most recently we’ve been experimenting with the possibilities of different yeast strains and pioneering new British hop varieties. The trio includes an India Pale Ale dry-hopped with all British hops, a Kolsch and a Saison both brewed with experimental yeast strains.

NEW RELEASE: LAGER

LAGERUK HOPSRELEASED: 01/05/2017

In our early years we brewed nomadically, this is where brewers who don't yet have their own brewery kit use someone else's brewery to brew their beers. As a brewer starting out, the guidance and support of the brewers in the breweries we used in our nomadic years was invaluable. One of the breweries we brewed at most frequently was Cotswold Brewing Company in Bourton-on-Water. Their head brewer James Boatright has been an inspiration to us since we began, his attention to detail and commitment to perfection has been a guiding light to us. As a brewery they produce some of the finest lagers in the UK with a passion and precision that is unrivalled.

The specific flavour profile of this style (compared to most others that we make) created its own challenge in how to put our own take on brewing a lager. For the first batch we decided we wanted to see if we could achieve the herbal and spice qualities that noble hops are recognised for, but by using new UK hops. We chose Jester, Olicana and UK Cascade and are delighted to say they rose to the challenge of matching their illustrious British and continental cousins. Lagered for 4 weeks for a fuller-flavour this beer is crisp and refreshing with a herbal bitterness.

This limited batch will be available on draft across the UK from the 1st May.

Pilot brew series

The recent addition of two 100 litre fermenter vessels in the brewery has meant we’ve been able to begin a series of experimental brews which test potential recipes and concepts for beer before we go big, and brew them to full scale and for general release. We’ll be showcasing our Pilot Series of beers at the Old Butcher’s where a line will be dedicated to these brews when they’re available.

From our beginnings we’ve understood the importance of honest feedback. It was the positivity (and constructive criticism!) from founder Michael’s friends and family that gave him the confidence to begin brewing commercially. We actively encourage all our team to give their personal feedback on every beer we brew at weekly tasting panels and ask thirsty visitors to the brewery on their opinions on whatever is fresh from the tanks.

We’re delighted that we’re now able to offer the opportunity for drinker’s at The Old Butcher’s to try the first incarnations of our most recent experimentations and be a part of the story of these beers. We’ll be providing tasting cards with each Pilot Brew ordered so you can give your feedback on the beer you’re tasting. This feedback will then be used to inform, develop and progress recipes.

To kick off the series we’re holding a launch party on Thursday 4th May. We’ve been experimenting with the parameters of different yeast strains and pioneering new British hop varieties. All in all, our brewers have been busy.

You’ll be able to try the first three beers in our Pilot Series at the event. The first brew is a Pale Ale malt base fermented using a historic yeast strain, the result was a surprise to us – a Kolsch style beer. Bright, crisp and with a satisfying herbal bitterness. Our second brew is an India Pale Ale dry-hopped with all British hop varieties. These hops are not often explored and showcased in dry hopping and the resulting brew conjures memories of a British summer harvest. The third and final brew we’ll have on is a sneak preview of a series of biscuit themed beers that we have brewed for Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival. Taking inspiration from the festival’s venue - an old biscuit factory, we’ve brewed an Amber Ale inspired by the mighty Jammie Dodger. Biscuity sweet malts are accompanied by hints of strawberry from the hop Motueka and the addition of strawberry jam and a strawberry vodka infusion. Come and try them with us at the Old Butcher’s on Thursday and let us know what you think.

twin pinesdugges x wiper and true

HUNTER & SONS14/15 MILSOM PLACE, BATH24/03/17

On Friday March 24th we’ll be heading to Hunter & Sons in Bath to celebrate the release of Twin Pines, a collaboration we brewed with Dugges Bryggeri. Twin Pines is a Double India Pale Ale which is a progression of our In The Pines Amber Ale concept. Brewed to explore and showcase pine flavours this beer is brewed with fresh pine needles taken from trees local to the Dugges brewery in Gothenburg.

Twin Pines has very limited availability in the UK so quite a few of us will be heading along for what is likely to be our only chance to taste this batch on draft at Hunter & Sons this Friday. Also pouring will be two other new beers; our latest Imperial strength version of Hard Shake Milk Stout, our Double India Pale Ale Citrus Bay and a few Dugges favourites.

The Old Butcher's will have 6 dedicated Wiper and True lines pouring the freshest brews straight from the brewery, along with a bottle list curated by our team. This list will showcase the beers we’re most excited about from the UK and further afield. It will be an extension of the brewers beer fridge here at the brewery, a closely guarded stash in the depths of the brewery filled with beers we are excited about tasting and sharing.

We’ll also be using the bar to showcase our Pilot series of beers. The recent addition of two 100L fermenters in the brewery has meant we’ve been able to begin a series of experimental brews which test potential recipes and concepts for beer before we go big, and brew them to full scale and for general release. At The Old Butcher's drinkers will be able to sample the latest recipes being tinkered on by our brewers before anyone else.

Watch this space for more announcements about the opening party.

hard shakeimperial milk stout

Released 20th March: Our third brew of Hard Shake, and this time it's Imperial.

The original concept for Milk Shake was a fairly light in alcohol but thick and luscious beer. We brewed several batches with this in mind, until one production meeting when Vicky floated the idea of a stronger version. Suggesting brewing a stronger beer to a brew team is like shooting fish in a barrel. We all got very excited about the depth of flavour and body that could be achieved with the richness of even more of those beautiful cara and chocolate malts, more vanilla and more alcohol. We imagined something decadent – a stout that was bigger, richer and more luxurious than Milk Shake. Named after the new wave of alcoholic milkshake cocktails, “Hard Shake” was born.

Our first two brews of Hard Shake back in late 2015 were 6.0% ABV, brewed with a similar malt bill and boil additions to our original Milk Shake recipe. The way we review and discuss our own beer at the brewery is hyper-critical, but the response to this brew was unashamedly unanimous: we loved it. It was so full bodied, so chocolatey (not a feature originally planned in Milk Shake, which always intended to play on the relationship between darker roasted malts and vanilla) and so complex. In fact, we realised that we had brewed what our original Milk Shake always could have been. It was closer to the aspirations we had for it from its inception: a Stout that was creamy, intense and reminiscent of a gloopy, thick milk shake.

So Hard Shake became Milk Shake. We now brew Milk Shake to 5.6% ABV with a bigger malt bill and it’s all the better for it.

But that left a Hard Shake black hole in our lives, sucking us into its vortex with a very obvious, natural and unquestionable conclusion: we should brew an Imperial version of Milk Shake.

Hard Shake was re-born through much research, recipe drafting, discussion, tasting, redrafting and brewing. We pushed the roasted malts much further than we ever could in Milk Shake, to balance out the high alcohol and explore complexities you can’t in softer beers. We upped the chocolate malts and added cacao nibs into the recipe, playing on what we had learned through the original batch of Hard Shake. We toned down the lactose a little in the knowledge that the high ABV and copious amounts of caramelised malts bring body and sweetness. We soaked our fresh vanilla pods in Makers Mark Bourbon and Milk Shake before steeping them in the wort to enhance the headiness and complexity of the beer.

The intention was to create an opulent, balanced and complex beer. It is conditioning in keg and bottle right now and we are pacing around it in the warehouse, desperate to taste it in full bloom. If you would like to join us for those first few sips please come and launch the beer with the team.

Hard Shake will be available in 330ml bottle and keg. We’ll be celebrating it’s release at a series of events in the lead up to it’s launch on Monday 20th March.

brewers christmas market

Good chemistry breweryunit 2, william streetst phillips

10/12/2016

On Saturday 10th December we’ll be at Good Chemistry’s brewery for a Christmas Brewers Market, along with Good Chemistry, Bristol Beer Factory, Crane and Lost and Grounded we’ll be selling beers and merchandise for all your Christmas needs! Get your Christmas shopping done in a day and have a pint. Lovely.

What we’ll have on our stall…

T shirts £15

India Pale Ale (that’s the elephant with the umbrella)Stout (the space shuttle)

wiper and true in the netherlands

utrechtBrewpub de kromme haring09/12/2016

We are very excited to be the first brewery to host a Meet the Brewer and Tap Takeover event at the resplendent new De Kromme Haring in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

De Kromme Haring is a recently opened Microbrewery and Brewpub set up by biologist and Brewmaster Stephen Grigg and beer aficionado Gijs Van Wiechen. Together they have built a beautiful bar and brewing space in the semi industrial part of the city. They are setting exceptional standards from the word go, having already won two awards for their beers before the brew kit has even arrived.

Michael will be introducing Wiper and True at 17:30 and 5 taps will be flowing with our freshly landed brews. He’ll be available to talk all things beer well into the evening and will hold a tasting of some rare bottled beers at 21:30.

Looking forward to trying the De Kromme Haring beers and immersing ourselves in the Dutch beer scene. If we are lucky, the brew kit is going to arrive whilst we are there.

eindhovenbier&big festival10/12/2016

We are delighted to be a part of this Years winter Bier&Big festival in Eindhoven. Some fantastic breweries on the list and it promises to be a great day. As their promo says: “Expect exquisite beers, glowing cheeks, big fires, fine tunes and all the fun that is brought by these dark months.”

PARTIZAN X WIPER AND TRUE

XK ALECOLLABORATION BLEND

At the beginning of this year Greg, one of London Craft Beer Festival founders, asked us whether we’d be interested in doing a collaboration with Partizan Brewing as we were sharing a bar with them at the festival in August. Of course, we didn’t hesitate.

If you attended London Craft Beer Festival you may remember trying the collaboration blend we had on, which was a nod to the history of beer. Partizan had brought along their Mild, X ale. Their modern interpretation of an early industrialised beer brewed to Courage Brewery’s 1915 recipe. Historically these young Mild beers would be blended with a higher strength, brewery matured ale called a Keeper Beer, or K beer in beer taxonomy, to add the aged flavours and create a new beer altogether – an XK Ale.

We brought along a Keeper Beer, a Barley Wine that was brewed in August 2015 and had been aging over Bourbon soaked oak chips for almost 12 months. At the festival we had both beers pouring and were offering the chance to try each separately, and then a blend of the two. When trialling the blend we found that every ratio brought out new and sometimes unexpected flavours. The balance of the freshness from the younger Mild and complexity from the aged Barley Wine play off each other in a captivating and unique way.

We wanted to taste this delicious concoction again. We still had some of the Keeper Beer in tank at the brewery so we made plans at the festival to send this over to Partizan for blending with a new batch of their X Ale. This new X Ale was based on an 1860s Lovibonds recipe.

The new blend presents itself as a rich and satisfying beer with spicy fruitcake notes, nutmeg, orange peel and a comforting biscuit malt character.

XK Ale will be available in 750ml bottle. We’ll be celebrating the launch of XK Ale in London at The Rake on December 1st and in Bristol at The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer on December 14th. Both tap takeovers will offer the chance to try the X Ale, Keeper Beer and XK Ale on draft so you can taste for yourself the magic of blending.

winter palaceimperial stout

Launching this week, our first Imperial Stout - Winter Palace. With a name inspired, like the brew itself, by the history of the style.

Some 200 years ago, English breweries started to make strong stouts which could withstand the voyage to the Baltics and Russia. Characterised by a rich, sumptuous depth of flavour and a high alcohol content these strong stouts were well suited to the cold climates of their destinations and their luxurious nature made them popular with the Russian Imperial Court of the era. The Winter Palace in St Petersburg is a palace in which the Russian monarchy might have enjoyed the first exports of what we now call Imperial Stout.

Winter Palace was brewed to a traditional recipe and is filled with rich, roasted tones including bitter chocolate, molasses, dark fruit and coffee which combine to create a luscious, silky Imperial Stout.

Available in 330ml bottle and keg from today.

HOBBS HOUSE X WIPER AND TRUE

Wild and TrueDATE & WALNUT STOUT SOURDOUGH

Earlier in the year we brewed a collaboration beer with Toast Ale, an organisation that advocates the use of surplus bread in brewing beer. This is when we first made contact with Hobbs House Bakery in search of some surplus bread to make our Bread Pudding Amber Ale.

Around the same time we were wondering what to do with a batch of our Milk Shake Stout – our 19th brew of that beer. This batch of Milk Shake was tasting fantastic. It had tones of rich, sumptuous chocolate laced with sweet vanilla and a satisfying edge of coffee bitterness. Everything we look for in a Milk Shake. However, the beer didn’t condition as we had expected and the carbonation of the beer was affected, it was flat. We weren’t happy to release the beer, but we couldn’t quite part with it.

As we were tasting our Bread Pudding beer in advance of it’s launch an idea surfaced: to reverse that concept, coming full circle, and create a bread from our beer. It instantly got the bakers amongst us talking and a brew planning session quickly became a bread planning session. We got back in touch with the team at Hobbs House and pitched the concept. They arrived at the brewery shortly after to pick up some bottles to start experimenting. In the weeks that followed we had the most welcomed surprise visits from Hobbs House with fresh from the oven trial batches, relished by our team at the end of long days and savoured next to Milk Shake. Hobbs House made several fantastic loaves before settling on a clear winner and unique recipe.

The bread the Hobbs House bakers have created uses our Milk Shake Stout in 4 different ways. It is a date and walnut Stout sourdough. To create it they make a 24 hour Levain using Stout, strong flour and their sourdough starter. The dates are soaked for 24 hours in Stout and then added to the dough along with walnuts. The dough is then steamed with Stout in the oven and finished off with a sticky Stout glaze. The name chosen for the bread? Wild and True.

Experimentation is important to us at Wiper and True and we never stop tasting, thinking, talking about beer and refining our recipes. We love keeping ideas moving and making improvements, but there will be inevitable, if rare, times that changes result in beers that don’t match our stringent quality control measures. We are delighted that our Milk Shake mistake has resulted in a different and wonderful creation that we can share and enjoy. A bread as delicious as the original beer.

Wild and True date and walnut Stout sourdough will be available at Hobbs House Bakery stores and Better Food Company stores in Bristol from Friday 18th November.

DURTY GURTIES X WIPER AND TRUE

FUTTERWACKEN IPA

14/11/2016 - 18/11/2016

Durty Gurties pop up’s have become something of a team tradition and are now a hotly anticipated event in the brewery. Our beers have been featured in dishes on their menu at each one so far, in a number of guises - sourdough bread, chocolate cake and more. Our empty kegs even featured as light fittings at their first event. We didn’t hesitate when Stephanie, Mike and Dan approached us with the idea to brew a beer for this month’s pop up.

Durty Gurties celebrate locality and seasonality and this particular menu has a focus on foraged ingredients. We always like working with new ingredients, especially foraged ones. We have brewed previously with elderflowers picked from around the brewery in St Werburghs when we collaborated with Poco restaurant. We settled on quince as our seasonal ingredient of choice and the Durty Gurties team foraged 10 kilos for the beer.

As the beer would be accompanying food we didn’t want the quince to make it too tart or bitter, so chose to stew the quince to bring out the perfume and sweetness. This was then blended post fermentation with some of our Quintet India Pale Ale. This five hop combination beer celebrates the diversity of flavours hops can bring and the sweet perfume of the stewed quince adds another layer to the satisfying complexity of this ale.

Futterwacken IPA will be exclusively available at Durty Gurtie’s Alice in Wonderland themed pop up on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week.

italy visitwiper and true x etnia

Our Head Brewer William Hartley will be heading over to Italy on Friday to brew a collaboration beer with Etnia. Our starting point for the collaboration was to look for inspiration from each brewer’s respective country. We’ll be brewing a red Barley Wine, which will be split in half between Italian red wine barrels for ageing and kegs to drink fresh. The intention is to create a fruity, boozy red Barley Wine using all-English hops, malted barley, crystal malts and English ale yeast. The Italian red wine barrels will add further complexity and depth of flavour.

We’ll keep you up to date on the progress of the barrel ageing, and when we plan to release each of the resultant beers.

William is also attending two tap takeovers during his visit. One at La Belle Alliance in Milan on Friday 28th October and the other at Stavio in Rome on Saturday 29th October. Both bars will be showcasing a selection of our freshest brews.

BREWDOG #COLLABFEST2016

DON'T GET LEMONDOUBLE INDIA PALE ALE

Each Brewdog bar in the UK has collaborated with a local brewery of their choice to create a one-off beer, all of which will be pouring in the bars over the weekend of 22-23rd October. You can find the full list of beers here. We were really chuffed when the folks over at the Bristol bar asked if we’d be up for being involved.

Inspiration for our brew came from what the team there might turn for at the end of a late shift, seeking the the satisfying hit of something strong, bitter, zesty and aromatic. If not a beer, something like a Negroni maybe. Strong and bitter? How about a double IPA? Zesty and aromatic? Lets add orange and lime zest with some toasted coriander seeds. Don’t Get Lemon combines burnt orange citrus notes with pronounced hop flavours and long-lasting herbal bitterness.

We hope the resulting brew delivers on its inspiration for thirsty bartenders and couldn’t be more excited to have it pouring alongside so many other unique brews. We’ll be down at Brewdog Bristol on Saturday 22nd October to toast to our co-brewers the Brewdog Bristol crew, and taste the other delights on offer.

dugges bryggeri x wiper and true

LINGONBERRY MILD

A SWEDISH TWIST ON AN ENGLISH CLASSIC

LAUNCHING LATER THAN INTENDED...

We were introduced to Dugges back in summer when they visited Bristol for the inaugural Bristol Craft Beer Festival. Their Tropic Thunder Sour Ale had been one of our beers of 2016 so we didn’t hesitate when a collaboration brew was suggested.

After some discussion, we thought it would be interesting to explore what inspiration we could each bring from our respective countries to the brew. For our first brew here in Bristol, we wanted to bring a Swedish twist to an English Classic. An English Mild seemed an obvious choice, it is a beer style that we had been wanting to brew for a while – an overlooked style, with a lot to offer. We were inspired by Partizan’s X Ale which we blended with our Keeper Ale at London Craft Beer Festival earlier in the year (you can read more on that lower down the News page) – Partizan’s Mild had a gorgeous depth of flavour and drinkability. The Mild recipe we developed was chosen for a rich malt sweetness and classic fruitiness from traditional British yeast.

And so to the Swedish twist. When discussing traditional Swedish foods and ingredients Tomas from Dugges suggested Lingonberries. These small, tart, red berries are distant cousins of cranberries and are an abundant wild fruit in Scandinavia. We were intrigued to brew with them and so shortly after, a vat of Lingonberry Juice arrived here at the brewery in preparation of brew day. We tasted and blended the juice and became really excited about the concept. The resulting beer has become a kind of sour fruit Mild, crossing genres and creating something unique. It has tartness and hedgerow fruits from the berries and a strong malt-sweet finish.

As some of you may have read we had intended to launch this beer at a joint tap takeover with Dugges at the Hanging Bat in Edinburgh on Wednesday 12th Oct, and Thursday 13th October. Our head brewer Will often says that brewers make wort and yeast makes beer and this beer has been true to his adage. The beer has conditioned slower than we anticipated and whilst it’s tasting great, the flavours haven’t developed and progressed as far as we think they will go so we’ve taken the decision to hold off on the release of the beer. Although our joint event at the Hanging Bat will be going ahead, the Lingonberry Mild will not be pouring.

We expect the beer to be ready in the next few weeks so keep an eye out for the release later in the October.

We’re due to visit Sweden early next year to brew a second beer which will again unite the flavours and inspiration from both countries.

Cheltenham beer week

BEER DINNER THE OX

21/09/2016

This month Cheltenham is going to be the first town (not city) in the UK to host it’s very own Beer Week, across a ten-day period from the 16th – 25th.

We’re delighted to be joining the line-up of events with a beer pairing menu at The Ox. We have been long-time admirers of their food, they create dishes with local, seasonal produce cooked to perfection. The menu they have created specifically for the evening has had us all daydreaming in the brewery – it works on classic flavour combinations with the usual Ox twist. Each pairing suggested provides something different whether that be to complement, to contrast or to accentuate. We'll be discussing our chosen pairings on the night prior to each course being served.

orange blossomindia pale ale

ARBOR ALES X WIPER AND TRUENetherlands tour

Brewed in celebration of our first trip to the Netherlands and taking inspiration from their national colour – Orange Blossom is an India Pale Ale collaboration with our fellow travellers, Arbor Ales. It has been brewed with hops renowned for their bold citrus flavours; Amarillo brings juicy clementine and Pacifica adding richer marmalade notes. In addition to the hops, 30kg of candied orange peel was added to the boil, plus a few more in the dry hopping stage to ensure we didn’t fall short of the mark.

Mr Wiper, and friends from Arbor Ales will be attending two tap takeovers this weekend, both featuring this new collaboration amongst many others.

bread puddinghomebrew recipe

To celebrate Bristol Beer Week, and encourage homebrewers to brew using surplus bread waste, we’ve released the recipe for Bread Pudding our collaboration with Toast Ale that uses a slice of bread in every bottle.

This week is all about exploring the beer world, so what better way to celebrate it than to brew one for yourself! Let us know how you get on with the recipe.

lines brew co x wiper and true

WEISS LINESsOUR WHEAT BEERLAUNCHING 29/08/16

When we heard that Tom Newman was setting up a new brewing project we were really excited. Tom has teamed up with Chef Scott Gander to create Lines Brew Co, a brewery born out of an inspiration from local, seasonal ingredients and wild farmhouse flavours.

Tom asked if we’d be interested in doing a collaboration brew whilst he set up his new kit (he’s been digging boreholes and foraging!) and we began discussing what the two breweries could come together to create. There was one seasonal ingredient, rhubarb, that we had previously brewed a pilot batch with together whilst Tom was at Celt Experience. The beer was fantastic, but we ended up drinking all of that one ourselves so we were keen to revisit the idea again and explore it’s potential as an addition. The beer we settled on was a kettle-soured Wheat Beer - a Berliner Weisse - made with fresh rhubarb juice. Our memories of making and enjoying the previous batch left us excited for the aromas, colours and unique flavours to come.

We brewed the beer together over a four day period at the end of July. We adopted the traditional kettle-souring methods by inoculating wort with lactobacillus. Lactobacillus is a culture of bacteria found in live yoghurts, sourdough breads and pickles like sauerkraut. We encouraged the growth of the bacteria which gently soured the wort, before we boiled it all up and blended it with fresh Yorkshire rhubarb juice.

The resulting beer has an initial soft wheat base that gives way to a complex sour fruit finish. It's one of those beers that we haven’t been able resist sneaking to the tank for little samples, fascinating our taste buds with its constant flavour transformations. It’s been through stages of tasting like a natural wine, a hoppy pale ale and fresh gooseberries. The profile changes by the day and every time we’ve tried it, we have picked up something new. Luckily, unlike the last one, we’re pleased to say that we brewed enough to be able to share it with you now.

Weiss Lines will be launching at our Bank Holiday Day Party at Kongs of King Street, where our brewers will be joining Tom from Lines Brew Co in giving a talk about the beer’s conception and inspiration alongside a tasting. We'll also have Weiss Lines available at all sessions of Bristol Craft Beer Festival.

TOAST ALE X WIPER AND TRUE

BREAD PUDDING AMBER ALElaunching in bristol beer week

We are fascinated by the infinite possibilities that water, malt, yeast and hops provide. Our aim is to celebrate these ingredients in what we do every day. However, we are aware brewing isn’t the most environmentally friendly activity. We try to do our bit by sending our spent grain off to a local farmer for cattle-feed and letting St Werburghs allotment holders take our used hops for fertiliser, but we know we can do much more.

A few of us saw the TV coverage around the launch of the first batch of Toast Ale earlier this year. So we were delighted when they contacted us to see if we would like to collaborate with them to brew and sell a beer in Bristol - a beer using local surplus bread. The additional brewing challenge this offered and Toast Ale’s mission that “the alternative to waste is delicious!” really inspired us.

Determined not to make life easy for ourselves we decided that we wanted to add a twist to their existing Pale Ale recipe. We remembered that traditionally bread pudding is made with leftover bread, started salivating at the thought of those wonderfully indulgent flavours and textures and mused as to how we could brew a beer that would showcase them. The result is the creatively named Bread Pudding, a 6.4% Amber Ale, which we’ve decided to make our Bristol Beer Week special. Profit from this beer will go to Feedback an environmental organisation that campaigns to end food waste at every level of the food system.

Bread Pudding will be launching in Bristol Beer Week and available in bottle and keg across the city during the week.

Aside from the brewing challenge and raising some money for charity, we also want to use this as an opportunity to encourage local brewers and home brewers to have a go at making beers using leftover bread. As part of our Bristol Beer Week activities, our brewers are hosting a lunch for home brewers at Kongs of King Street full details of which can be found – here.

xk aleTHE SERENDIPITOUS BLEND

When Greg, one of London Craft Beer Festival founders, asked us whether we’d be interested in doing a collaboration with Partizan Brewing as we were sharing a bar with them at this years’ festival - we didn’t hesitate. We’ve been big fans of their beautiful design, and fantastic brews for a long time and have huge respect for how they have built their brewery and identity in the craft beer world.

Michael headed over to Partizan to discuss the collaboration in more detail and it became clear that our hectic brewing schedules were going to make creating a new beer difficult. Andy from Partizan started to explain the concept behind their X ale, a modern interpretation of an early industrialised beer brewed to Courage Brewery’s 1915 recipe. Historically these young Mild beers would be blended with a higher strength, brewery matured ale called a Keeper Beer to add the aged flavours and create a new beer altogether – an XK Ale.

Back in tank in Bristol we had a Barley Wine that had been conditioning over Bourbon-soaked oak chips for nearly 12 months. A Keeper Beer. And now, we had the beginnings of an XK Ale.

When trialling the blend we found that every ratio brought out new and sometimes unexpected flavours. The balance of the freshness from the younger Mild and complexity from the aged Barley Wine play off each other in a captivating and unique way.

XK Ale, the serendipitous Wiper and True and Partizan blend, will be available to try at all sessions of London Craft Beer Festival this weekend.

BREWER FOR THE DAY

BECOME A BREWER FOR THE DAY DURING BRISTOL BEER WEEK 2016.

30/08/2016

In Bristol Beer Week 2015 one of the highlights was welcoming people in to the brewery for the day to brew with us and learn more about what we do. Sharing appreciation, knowledge and excitement about beer is the heart of Bristol Beer Week and we’re really looking forward to opening our doors again this year.

We are offering the opportunity for 3 people to join us for the day and be guided through the creation of one of our beers from beginning to end. That means we’ll also invite you back to enjoy the first tasting of the brew you have helped us craft – and you get a case to take home and share with your friends.

The details:

This year we have one brew date with 3 spaces –

Tuesday 30th August • 08.00 – 18.00 • Brewing a Pale Ale

If you are interested please email your name and contact details to hello@wiperandtrue.com with the subject ‘BBW Brewer for a day’.

The deadline is Thursday 18th August with names being picked out of a hat and contacted on Friday 19th August.

london craft beer festival

London Craft Beer Festival29-32 The OvalLondonE2 9DT

12/08/2016 - 14/08/2016

We couldn't be more excited to be returning to London Craft Beer Festival this year. Last year's festival was a highlight of 2015, there was a great atmosphere, fantastic beers, good music and a lovely crowd. We'll be bringing some new brews and old favourites along and will most probably be dancing on the bar. Again.

Full beer list which will be on over the course of the weekend:

India Pale Ale - Quintet

Milk Stout - Milk Shake

Saison - In The Rye

Amber Ale - Citra and Rye

Sour Black IPA - All the Colours of the Dark

Pale Ale - Citra

Pale Ale - Kaleidoscope

Wheat Beer - Bristol Vice

We'll also be doing a collaboration blend with Partizan Brewing at the festival the details of which we'll leave as a surprise.

BEERKAT#BrewedinBristol Takeover

BEERKAT203 Holloway RoadLondonN7 8DL

14/07/2016 – 28/07/2016

BeerKat find a disused pub, fill it with good beer, great street food and live music and then throw a great big party. As soon as we heard about this, we wanted in. We're really excited to be following Beavertown and Siren's recent residencies at their current site on Holloway Road with a takeover along with our fellow Bristolians Moor Beer and Bristol Beer Factory. There will be three storeys of Bristol beer, music and food. We'll have 11 different beers available and T-shirts for sale.

Not wanting to miss out on the party, we'll be heading down on Saturday 16th July giving you the chance to meet our Head Brewer and join us for a tasting of our recent collaboration with independent psychedelic cinema night Hellfire Video Club - a sour black IPA 'All the Colours of the Dark' inspired by a 70s Italian psychedelic horror film of the same name.

We're looking forward to bringing our Bristol brews to the BeerKat party. See you there.

ODDBINS NO.7COLLABORATION beerLAUNCHED 01/07/2016

Now available the seventh beer in our collaboration series, brewed in partnership with Oddbins. Oddbins No.7 is a modern Amber Ale brewed with the aim of producing the perfect balance between traditional malts and new world hops.

Simcoe, Mosaic and El Dorado hops bring notes of pine and stone fruit to the rich toffee and biscuit malt base. Oddbins No.7 is exclusively available in Oddbins stores. You can find your nearest stockist here.

We'll be launching the beer at events at Oddbins Blackheath and Oddbins Clifton on Friday 1st July. Our brewers will be on hand between 6 - 8pm at both stores to discuss the collaboration process and talk about the beer.

FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE

BRISTOL BEER WEEK 2016

27/08/2016 - 02/09/2016

We’re incredibly proud to brew, and be part of the brewing community, in Bristol - it’s such a creative, vibrant and inspiring city and the last year has seen more amazing breweries and bars join the fold.

Bristol Beer Week gives us the opportunity to celebrate the beers the city produces, and also welcome other breweries from across the UK and around the world to show us what they’ve been up to. We can’t wait to see what this year’s Bristol Beer Week has in store, particularly with the addition of Bristol Craft Beer Festival as the culmination.

We have a few exciting things planned including the launch of a very special collaboration beer, the opportunity to join us and brew for the day and of course, a massive party.

BANK HOLIDAY DAY PARTYKONGS OF KING STREET13-15 KING STREETBRISTOLBS1 4EF

29.08.2016

We’ll be taking over 20 lines at Kongs of King Street and running a series of talks, tastings and other events throughout the day. More announcements to follow…

Tutti I Colori Del BuioAll the colours of the dark

We have collaborated with Hellfire Video Club, a Bristol-based film night who bring psychotrophic celluloid to the Bristol public on a monthly basis. Our collaboration marks their 5th birthday and the beer we've created takes it’s name and inspiration from cult Italian psychedelic horror film “Tutti I Colori Del Buio”, translated as “All the colours of the dark”.

You may think that a 70’s psychedelic horror film is a strange place to seek inspiration for brewing but we wanted to brew a beer as mesmerising as the film. A beer that challenged the senses and was bizarre but satisfying and enjoyable. Something that left you puzzled but with a smile. We settled on a sour black India Pale Ale which we will be launching at a series of events in June.

UK LAUNCHSUMMER SOLSTICE WEEK20.06.2016 – 26.06.2016

We'll be launching this collaboration at a series of UK events in the week of the summer solstice. Full event announcements to follow.

PARIS BEER WEEK

06.05.2016 – 08.05.2016

We’re excited to have our beer pouring at a couple of events at Paris Beer Week this year.

Tap Takeover

La Fine Mousse4 bis Avenue Jean Aicard75011Paris

06.05.2016

La Fine Mousse has welcomed British breweries to takeover it’s 20 lines for the evening on Friday 6th May. Our beer will be pouring alongside The Kernel, Partizan, Beavertown, Weird Beard, Redchurch Brewery, Tiny Rebel and Moor Beer. We couldn’t wish for better company on the bar and hear the food served at La Fine Mousse is something special too.

BRISTOL VICE LAUNCH

Small Bar31 King StreetBristolBS1 4DZ

12.05.2016

On Thursday 12th May we’ll be launching our latest collaboration with Left Handed Giant Brewing Co. Our second incarnation of Bristol Vice is a kettle-soured Wheat Beer. It has amazed us with it’s flavour transformations and developments during it’s time in tank. The resulting brew is bright with tart citrus with a sour gooseberry finish.

We’ll be doing a joint tap takeover with Left Handed Giant on the night with each of us having 10 different beers pouring.

28.04.166PM – LATE.

For our first tap takeover in Wales, where better to be taking over the taps than bastion of the craft beer world - BrewDog. We’ll have 10 different beers on tap including our latest Pale Ale Kaleidoscope and our new Wheat Beer White.

Our brewers will be on hand to discuss the beers and to answer any questions you may have.

21.04.2016

6PM - LATE

On Thursday 21st April our brewers will be heading over to The Griffin in Bath where there will be a range of our latest beers on tap, including our new Wheat Beer White. There will also be the first chance to try our Red Orange Amber Ale on cask.

Sally Brew SessionThe Salutation InnHam, Gloucestershire

02.04.2016

11am - late

Our head brewer Will got very excited when he heard that the Salutation Inn had placed a beer order, as he had heard great things about their famous Brew Sessions where breweries from across the country come down and brew tweaked versions of their flagship beers on their 2.5BBL kit. Needless to say, when we were then offered the opportunity to come down and do a brew session we jumped at the chance.

Pete Tiley, landlord of the Salutation Inn and head brewer at their microbrewery came down to the brewery to discuss ideas for our Brew Session and after bouncing around several ideas including a brew containing raw meat (maybe next year) Pete began to tell us about how the pub sits on the Estate of Berkeley Castle. Within the castle there are underground cellars which would have been used to condition beers made at the estate in years gone by. This inspired us to try and recreate how beers would have historically been brewed at the estate.

We are going to experiment with Parti-Gyle brewing, where one mash will be used to create two distinct beers. Historically this is close to the brewing style that would have had to been adopted by those brewing on the Berkeley Estate and we’ll be conditioning our beer in the very same cellars in Berkeley Castle.

This process is driven by experimentation and we’re not sure how it’s going to turn out! The brew sessions are completely open to the public, so you will be able to watch our brewers in progress, ask questions and try the beers at their different brew stages. There will also be a selection of Wiper and True beers on the bar and we hear a very tasty Brewers Brunch on the food menu.

INTRODUCING... WHITE, WHEAT BEER.

We're excited to announce that we will be launching our very first Wheat Beer over the Easter weekend in March.

White has been crafted to balance crisp, tart hop flavours of citrus, grape and pineapple with distinctive yeast characteristics on a sumptuously soft wheat base.

We'll be launching White at a series of events over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend in March.

24.03.2016

6PM UNTIL LATE

We’ll be simultaneously launching our very first Wheat Beer in Bristol and London on Thursday 24th March. In Bristol, at CAMRA Bristol’s branch pub of the year 2016 – The Volunteer Tavern, our brewers will be joining Pete and the team for a 6 strong tap takeover, and there will be the chance to try our Wheat Beer for the first time.

24.03.16

6pm until late

On Thursday 24th March we’ll be launching our first ever Wheat Beer, White in London at BrewDog Shepherds Bush. To start the Easter weekend right, we’ll have 18 different beers on tap including a one-off oak aged Barley Wine. Our brewers will be there to talk about this, brewing White, and any other beery things you’d like to discuss with them.

Tap TakeoverBottle Shop128 Druid StreetLondon, SE1 2HH

26.03.16

10AM - 5PM

We can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than whiling away the hours along the Bermondsey Beer Mile. So we’re excited to be taking over the taps at The Bottle Shop on Saturday 26th March and becoming part of the mile for the day.

Our brewers will be on hand to discuss our new Wheat Beer and the recipe development and inspiration behind it. You’ll also have the chance to sample it for yourself, and take some home with you.

05/04/1611AM - LATE

Our head brewer William Hartley is heading over to the legendary Ma Che in Rome on Saturday the 5th March to showcase a selection of our beers.

Ma Che prides itself on the quality of its international beer selection and the effort they go to in order to serve those brews to perfection. This includes having two separate refrigerated cellars with different temperatures to suit a range of beer styles.

Our beers will be pouring alongside brews from Cloudwater Brew Co in Manchester, whose innovative brewing and beautiful design we admire greatly. We couldn’t wish for better company on the bar.

BEER LIST

27/02/1512pm - late

On Saturday 27th February we’ll be taking over the taps at The Craft Beer Co in Covent Garden. On offer there will be 16 different keg beers, 10 cask beers and a selection of bottled beers. We’ll have new releases, one-off brews and our brewers will be on hand to discuss the beers and chat about what is coming in the tanks.

BEER LIST

KEG

Pale Ale - Winter Oats

Pale Ale - Southern Cross

Pale Ale - Australia

Pale Ale - Triptych No. 11

Amber Ale - Winter Rye

Amber Ale - In The Pines

Amber Ale - Red Orange

Amber Ale - Amarillo

India Pale Ale - Sorachi Ace

India Pale Ale - Quintet

India Pale Ale - White Cloud

India Pale Ale - Chomp House Brew

Barley Wine - Barley Wine

Small Beer - Batch No. 14

Milk Stout - Hard Shake

Milk Stout - Milk Shake

cask

Porter - Pink Peppercorn

Pale Ale - Triptych No. 11

Pale Ale - Australia

Milk Stout - Milk Shake

Milk Stout - Hard Shake

India Pale Ale - Citrus & Sevens (Lemons)

India Pale Ale - Citrus & Sevens (Seville Oranges)

India Pale Ale - White Cloud

India Pale Ale - Quintet

bottle

Winter Ale - Whitefriars

Pale Ale - Southern Cross

Amber Ale - Red Orange

Milk Stout - Hard Shake

India Pale Ale - White Cloud

CELT FIRE FESTIVALTHE CELT EXPERIENCE BREWERY, CAERPHILLY

06/02/20166PM - LATE

The Celt Experience Fire festival celebrates the ancient Pagan ‘Imbolc’ - a special date in the Celt calendar announcing the beginning of Spring. We’re really excited to be attending this year, not only with a specially selected range of our beers for the bar but our brewers will also be taking part in a live collaboration brew with Celt Experience, Northern Monk and Brew by Numbers. It promises to be a night filled with beer, art, music, food and of course, fire.

You can also catch a bus from King Street in Bristol to and from the festival.

Hope to see you there.

TAP TAKEOVERCROWN & ANCHOR246 BRIXTON ROAD, LONDON SW9 6AQ

03/02/166PM - LATE

On Wednesday 3rd February we’re going to be taking over the taps of Brixton institution The Crown & Anchor for their biggest ever single brewery tap takeover and what better way to end a dry January. There will be 6 cask and 9 keg beers, offering the chance to compare the same beer along with new releases and one-off brews including our first ever Barley Wine.

2015 has been a big year for us full of lots of exciting changes so we thought we should end the year with a bit of a celebration. For our final event of the year the lovely folks over at The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer have given us an early Christmas present and let us take over all 16 of their lines and fill their fridges for what promises to be veritable festive feast of beer.

We'll be showcasing new styles and have some beers available in cask and keg so you’ll be able to compare and contrast to your hearts content. In total we'll have 28 different beers available. Our recommendation? Book Friday off work.

It's been a whirlwind couple of months here at the brewery with the arrival of four new tanks and a chockablock brewing schedule ahead of Christmas. Our brewers have been busy developing new brewing styles and exploring new ingredients.

So now we’ve worked up a thirst, where better to unveil our most recent creations than Colonna and Hunter in Bath. The Wiper and True team always visit this watering hole with great anticipation to see which interesting, and undoubtedly, excellent beers James and co. have curated each week. We're delighted to be taking over the taps for the evening and share with you our latest beers. We’ve also created some unique experimental brews especially for the tap takeover. Our brewers will be on hand to talk you through the inspiration and development of each one and tease you with what is coming in the tanks.

BEER LIST

BARLEY WINE • 10.0% ABV

Making it's debut, this will be the first opportunity to taste our newest style of beer. You'll find complex rich stone fruit and pine flavours in this warming ale.

WHITEFRIARS • WINTER ALE • 6.40% ABV

A bespoke oaked version of our Belgian style Winter Ale made especially for Colonna and Hunter. Distinctive yeast flavours ranging from white grapes to biscuit, balanced with hedgerow fruits and a gentle sourness.

INDY MAN BEER CON calls itself a multi-sensory, headlong, hop-forward beer extravaganza, we were lucky enough to attend last year and couldn’t agree more so we’re really pleased to be returning this year to pour our beers. We’ll be in good company, with over 50 of the best international and UK breweries showcasing their lovely beer.

You’ll be able to find us at the evening session on Thursday 8th and on Friday 9th October at both the evening and day sessions. Our brewers will be on hand to discuss the beers, chat about our new brewery and what’s coming in the tanks.

BEER LIST:

INDIA PALE ALE • FAMILY TREE • 7.1% ABV

A family of three hops; Nugget, Simcoe and Mosaic come together to create complex stone fruit flavours and earthy pine notes.

INDIA PALE ALE • WHITE CLOUD • 6.0% ABV

All New Zealand hops bring bursts of strawberry and lime on a crisp yet creamy malt base.

PALE ALE • MOSAIC • 4.7% ABV

Single hopped Pale Ale exploring the magnificent Mosaic hop that brings a plethora of citrus, tropical fruit and pine flavours.

SAISON • ELDERFLOWER • 5.0% ABV

Poco restaurant collaboration. Brewed with over 3,500 handpicked elderflowers, all British hops and Wiltshire malt. Bright citrus notes with a subtle floral finish.

PORTER • PHOENIX • 7.4% ABV

Rum-soaked raisins, soured Stout and a new batch of Porter, oak aged together for three months to produce an intense flavour combination of sweet vanilla and rich dried fruits with a gentle hint of sourness.

STOUT • MILK SHAKE • 4.0% ABV

A rich, velvety and satisfying Milk Stout abundant with chocolate and vanilla flavours.

BECOME A BREWER FOR THE DAY DURING BRISTOL BEER WEEK 2015.

Bristol Beer Week offers the opportunity to share appreciation and knowledge of beer along with the chance to have one-of-a-kind beer experiences. With this in mind, during Bristol Beer Week we are offering the opportunity for 4 beer adventurers to join our brewers for the day and be guided through the process of one of our beers from beginning to end.

That means we’ll also invite you back to enjoy the first tasting of the brew you have crafted with us – and give you a case to take home.

The details:

We have 2 brew dates both with 2 spaces each –

Tuesday 22nd September | 08.00 – 18.00 | Brewing an Amber Ale

Friday 25th September | 08.00 – 18.00 | Brewing a Milk Stout

If you are interested please email your name, contact details and your preference for day (if you have one) to hello@wiperandtrue.com with the subject ‘BBW Brewer for a day’.

The deadline is Thursday 17th September with names being picked out of a hat and contacted on Friday 18th September.

The wane of Summer and wax of Autumn heralds Bristol Beer Week. It’s third year will see a host of events from breweries and bars all over the city, including unique brews from Bristol’s finest.

Having failed miserably in our attempt to organise a piss up in a brewery last year, we’ve decided to see if we can do a little better in a pub. Where better to do so than with our very first customer: The Hillgrove.

As some of you may know, our beer tends to go into either bottles or kegs so the idea of us taking over the taps somewhere with 6 keg and 12 cask lines initially left us a little flummoxed. Always keen to embrace a challenge, after several weeks of head-scratching and endless discussions we decided that the best thing to do was to put some beer into cask!

So this evening will be a little different to previous takeovers we’ve done, with some one-off casks, some beers appearing in both keg and cask so you can compare and contrast and also a few beers from other breweries further afield that we’ve curated especially for the night. Our full beer list for the night will be:

The Wiper and True team are really looking forward to our inaugural tap takeover in London. Treading in the footsteps of some distinguished past participants, where better to start than the last Thursday of the month session at The Fox. Joining us will be our fellow Bristol-based brewing friends, Left-Handed Giant.

There will be plenty of variety with a range of 12 beers across keg and cask, including some of our freshest new brews. We will be on hand to discuss the beers, chat about our new brewery and what's coming in the tanks.

The Fox will also be doing their usual Chicken Wing Thursday menu with, well, chicken wings in almost as many permutations as there will be beer.

CASK

The Wiper and True team will be in the vaults of The Beer Emporium on King Street from 7:30, for a beer launch and tap takeover.

Open to all, you’ll find plenty of variety with seven beers on keg and two on cask. There will be a great mix of familiar favourites plus some of the freshest new Wiper and True brews which you can taste for the first time.

CASK

Our brewers will be on hand to discuss the beers on the night, what’s happening with our new brewery build, and what’s in the tank.

Accompanying the multitude of brews will be delicious small bites from the Beer Emporium kitchens cooked up using Wiper and True beer, perfectly moreish.

All this beer needs some background music, so we’re bringing the Wiper and True 'Brew Day Playlist' for the evening, mixed live by our multi-skilled bottler by day, DJ by night, who you may recognise from Hellfire Video Club.

Our brewers and the Extract crew will be on hand to talk about beer, coffee and anything else that takes your fancy.

There will be samples of Dr. Strangelove, along with plenty of other Wiper and True beers and some specially selected morsels from Boston Tea Party.

BOSTON TEA PARTY293 GLOUCESTER ROAD, BS7

Dr. Strangelove will be available in all Boston Tea Party outlets from Friday 1st November and other purveyors of Wiper and True the following week.

CHANGE OF VENUESATURDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER

Over at the brewery we've had a slight change of plan due to a licensing issue. We forgot to get one. The good news is that thanks to some of our friends we've found a great venue to host this weekend's Beef & Beer.

Near the ever popular Yurt Lush on Temple Quay, The Goods Yard is a shipping container with a difference, but we'll be serving up the same combination of beef, beer, live music and DJ's that you've come to love.

The CHOMP truck will be serving some serious hamburgers and Wiper and True and Ashley Down Brewery will be jumping behind the bar. Your favourite brews will be on tap as well as something special from each of us to provide the perfect full stop to Bristol Beer Week.

The Goods Yard is just minutes away from other great events from the Barley Mow and Volunteer Tavern, so there's no excuse.

The management of Wiper and True, Ashley Down and Chomp would like to take this opportunity to refute any suggestions that we cannot organise a piss up in a brewery.

BRISTOL BEER WEEK12TH – 20TH SEPTEMBER 2014

We are delighted that Bristol Beer Week is upon us for the second year. With it comes a myriad of events from breweries and bars all over Bristol, including unique brews from Bristol’s finest.

OUR BRISTOL BEER WEEK BEER

Each Bristol Beer Week we like to brew a locally themed beer. This year we thought we’d celebrate something that is deemed wholly unhealthy, has no rightful place in beer and whose history is ingrained with the slave trade: sugar.

OUR EVENTS

We are embracing Bristol Beer Week by hosting brewery events, forging collaborations and wandering around Bristol seeing what everyone else has to offer. Below is a guide of where you’ll find us throughout the week, by day and by night.

FRIDAY 12TH

ASHLEY DOWN BREWERYNATIONAL HOMEBREW COMPETITION

Paying tribute to our home brewing heritage we are hosting the UK's National Homebrewing Competition down at the brewery. Over the last few weeks entries by courier, foot and taxi have been filling up our shelves. Home brewers are entering their beers to be judged by a panel of tasting experts rating 28 categories of beer style.

TUESDAY 16TH

FLINTY RED: A NIGHT WITH WIPER AND TRUE AND ASHLEY DOWN BREWERY

Flinty Red chefs have been working hard in the lead up to Bristol Beer Week to establish a seven course tasting menu full of exquisite treats to complement the beers from both St Werburghs based breweries. They’ve cooked the beer right into the menu, creating, amongst other dishes, carbonnade, zabaglione, and membrillo, which you can enjoy alongside a specially paired beer from each brewery.

Dinner starts at 7:30pm and tickets are priced at £35, with limited numbers now available.

For more info call the Flinty Red team on 0117 923 8755.

WEDNESDAY 17TH

BREWDOG BRISTOL: WIPER AND TRUE AT THE HOME BREW CLUB

BrewDog has their resident Home Brew Club on Wednesday, where Wiper and True will be making a guest appearance. You can catch Michael and Will discussing their brewing experiences, answering questions and supplying tips to those looking to dip into brewing for the first time. Or if you’re a curious experienced home brewer, there’s a chance to broaden your knowledge, which is something that Michael and Will both confess they never stop doing.

The BrewDog taps are hosting a wide selection of Wiper and True beers alongside the pure geekery, so drop by and get stuck in.

FRIDAY 19TH

VOLUNTEER TAVERN: THIRD BIRTHDAY BEER FEST & TAP TAKEOVER

The Volunteer Tavern has been a wonderfully eccentric customer of ours since the early days. For Bristol Beer Week 2014, the charmer of a landlord Pete has taken the plunge and will be offering Wiper and True on tap all week long; we’re popping down on Friday evening as part of their beer festival.

There are nine of our different beers on cask and keg during the week, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. For five days they are running a festival with over 30 different beers and ciders.

This promises to be a good one; The Volunteer Tavern is a real hidden gem in Bristol, tucked away on New St near Cabot Circus.

For more information call the pub on 0117 955 8498.

SATURDAY 20TH

BEEF & BEER

ASHLEY DOWN BREWERY

We’re at it again. For us, it wouldn’t be Beer Week without a little Chomp, Ashley Down Brewery and Wiper and True.

At 12noon the shutters of the brewery are being raised once again to celebrate and commiserate the end of Bristol Beer Week. With Wiper and True and Ashley Down Brewery pulling the pints and Chomp flipping the burgers, everyone is welcome to experience some tasty beer alongside serious hamburgers.

An extensive range of beers will be on offer from both breweries, including Wiper and True’s Bristol Beer Week special, Pero’s Beer. There will be a toe tapping come foot stamping soundtrack from The Baulkany Band and of course our resident Beef & Beer DJs, with the bar serving right up until 10pm.

BEEF AND BEER

SATURDAY 19TH JULY12PM - 10PM

Beef and Beer is back.

On Saturday 19th of July we’re pulling up the shutters at Ashley Down brewery in St Werburghs.Wiper and True & Ashley Down Brewery are manning the bar whilst CHOMP flip serious hamburgers from the truck, with a soundtrack from some great local musicians.

We will have plenty of different beers at the bar from both breweries as well as wine and soft drinks. Wiper and True are launching a brand new beer kegged up just last week at Cheddar Ales.

BOTTLED BEERS

ST WERBURGHS CITY FARM SUMMER FAIR

SATURDAY 14TH JUNE12PM ONWARDS

The City Farm is hosting a summer fair on the 14th of June and there will be beer, music and food all around St Werburghs. Our brewery on York Street will be open from 12pm, with CHOMP cooking up tasty hamburgers all day. Equally tasty beer, wine and soft drinks will be served up by Ashley Down Brewery and Wiper and True alongside some great local musicians, who start at 2pm.

You’ll need a wristband for this event which gives you freedom to roam the festival sites, from the Duke of York to Boiling Wells and of course the City Farm itself. There are multiple bars, stages with live music and local food to enjoy all day long. Wristbands can be bought on the door at the brewery for £6 and all admission fees go to the City Farm charity.

BRISTOL FOOD CONNECTIONS

Bristol Food Connections is a partnership event with over 200 organisations and groups from all sections of the Bristol community, collaborating and producing their own events around the city.

The full programme features unique events including the Bristol Food Connections Festival which runs from Saturday 3rd to Monday 5th of May.

As a local producer we have a bar in Lloyds Ampitheatre on the Harbourside for the whole 3 days, open from 10am until 6pm. We'll be pouring a range of our beers including pales, ambers, IPA and stout. We have a mix of old favourites and brand new beers available on tap, so pop down for one to celebrate the lie-in on Monday.

SAVOURY AND SWEET

THURSDAY 12TH DECEMBER6PM - MIDNIGHT

THE GALLIMAUFRY26/27 THE PROMENADE ・ GLOUCESTER ROAD ・BS7 8AL

On Thursday night we'll be setting up a pop-up bar at the Galimaufry. We'll be serving up two new beers on tap to accompany the fine food coming out of the kitchen, with dishes made with Wiper and True as the key ingredient.

All this wonderful gastronomy will be soundtracked with our favourite vinyl enthusiast DJ One Trick Pony.

Everyone welcome for boozing, you may want to book your table if you are planning to eat. Call the Gallimaufry on 0117 942 7319. And keep up to date with their Facebook Event.

http://thegallimaufry.co.uk/

MOVEMBER

This year William and Michael of Wiper and True will be growing slightly awkward, pubescentesque whispiness between our noses and lips in support of men's health charity Movember. Not only will we be making personal sacrifices by looking stupid for a month, we are expecting our beer sales to dip significantly as customers find us a bit weirder to deal with.

Movember raises awareness and funding around prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health issues. Men's health is in quite a state it seems, and beer probably doesn't help. Read more about Movember and why they do what they do here: http://uk.movember.com/mens-health - some startling facts and inspiration for action.

BEEF & BEER 6

SATURDAY 5TH OCTOBER5pm - 11pm

BOCOSO ・ BOILING WELLS LANEST WERBURGHS ・BS29XY

An evening celebrating the tastiest craft beers and finest beef as one of Bristol Beer Week’s most wonky events.

Bocoso is a trinket-filled yard where previously many of you sat in empty bathtubs and drank tasty beers whilst munching succulent beef rib sandwiches. This is one of the many wonderful Bristol Beer Week events happening across the city, so after wandering around town filling your tanks up with lovely beer from local breweries, you're all invited to soak it up with delicious Chomp food and re-fill with brand new beers from Wiper & True and Ashley Down Brewery. Chomp will be providing their trademark burgers, as well as a special Steak and Ale pie for the celebration of all things beery. To boot the whole event will have a sound track from resident Beef & Beer DJs and live music from the hoot'n and toot'n, barnyard swingers the Prints of Whales.

Chomp will be slinging serious hamburgers & fries from their classic 1972 Citroen H truck. Quality and flavour are the watchwords here: Only the finest 28 day dry-aged Angus & Hereford beef gets to hit the griddle. Chomp are on a mission to Bring Great Beef to the People; dropping their perfect patties in fresh baked demi-brioche buns and giving you something you can really believe in: Burger Religion. There will also be glorious slow-cooked Steak and Ale pies to get your chops around.

A wonderful array of traditional ales and craft beers will be served up at the bar by Ashley Down Brewery and Wiper and True. Both breweries will be showcasing new beers brewed especially for Bristol Beer Week, with Wiper & True launching their mystery bespoke Bristol Beer Week brew, in collaboration with Beerd brewery. Ashley Down will be serving up their 6.5% English IPA.

The venue is Bocoso, a curious extravaganza of bits and bobs. It's run by Pete Chapman, an ex salvage merchant who seems to have a penchant for keeping what he’s found. There is a large dining room covered in vines, mini roll-top bathtub collections and a lot of unrecognizable objects and just for good measure, a large boat.

Bocoso has two indoor seating areas and plenty of outside seating and wandering space. Set aside to the bar and seating area there is a dance floor where music will be a steady feature all evening.

Both truck and bar will be taking cash only payments on the night. Parking is limited so you might be better off wandering there or getting a cab, just check where you're going first it's a little off the beaten track. It's under the bridge on Boiling Wells Lane, on the left hand side.

See you there!

BEEF & BEER 5

SATURDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER12pm - 11pm

BOCOSO ・ BOILING WELLS LANEST WERBURGHS ・BS29XY

A day and night celebrating the finest beef and tastiest craft beers; showcasing local artists on the walls of Bocoso, as part of the St Werburghs Arts Trail.

Wiper and True are teaming up with Chomp Grill and Ashley Down Brewery to provide a day of beef, beer and music at a secluded spot in the hinterlands of St Werburghs. You’ll be able to get your food from the truck, beers from the bar and find a seat amongst the vines, mini bathtubs and plethora of unrecognizable objects in the weird and wonderful venue, part bric-a-brac store part restaurant. Exhibits from local artists will be on display, amongst the treasures and trinkets of Bocoso’s yard.

Chomp will be slinging serious hamburgers & fries from their classic truck. Only the finest 28 day dry-aged Angus & Hereford beef gets to hit the griddle. As well as this, Chomp will be providing delicious veggie burgers, and all of Wiper and True's beer is began and vegetarian friendly.

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WIPER & TRUE and ASHLEY DOWN BREWERY will be hosting the bar and pouring their latest selection of craft beers, traditional ales as well as a few carefully chosen delights cooked up by other breweries.

We will be bringing kegs of our new Pale Ale, Australia - 5.5%, alongside In the Pines - 5.3%, our second batch of this popular Amber Ale. Bottles of our refreshing but dark Porter, Bright - 6.5% will also be flowing. There will be soft drinks on offer, so bring the family down for lunch or an early dinner. Red and white wines are available, as well Mr Wiper's genius beer cocktail - stuffed with mint, grapefruit, elderflower, gin and pale ale - always a favourite.

The venue is Bocoso, a curious extravaganza of bits and bobs; it's owned by Pete Chapman, an ex-salvage merchant, who seems to have a penchant for keeping what he’s found. It's as if a bar and seating area have emerged from the clutter and Pete has decided to rent it to us as a restaurant. We think he's on to something...

Music will be played on turntables by our favourite psychadelic, fuzzy, drum loving DJs Duke Box and Alexplosion.

Parking is limited so you might be better off wandering there or getting a cab, just check where you're going first it's a little off the beaten track. See map below - it's under the bridge and on the left.

SOUTHERN TENANT FOLK UNIONALBUM LAUNCH

“That beer you, are now holding, is cold beer, from the abandoned base”Adapted 5th album lyric using the word ‘beer’ in place of ‘moon rock’

July 4th sees the release of a new album by our good ol' pals the Southern Tenant Folk Union, titled Hello Cold Goodbye Sun. To celebrate the music of this wonderful bunch we will be serving up a special beer, a 5.5% American Inspired IPA to sit back with and savour whilst your ears are drenched in warm melodies and lush harmonies.

A very limited edition evening then as Southern Tenant Folk Union bring beer, musical happiness and hoppy-ness to St Bonaventure’s for one night only. STFU’s American IPA will be on sale from the bar at the venue.

Tim Martin from CRH Music, who promote music at St. Bonaventure’s, says that a special night is in store. “It’s entirely fitting that the best Americana venue in the South West should play host to one of the finest progressive folk and bluegrass bands around launching their own Bristol brewed American beer. Great music, a fabulous new beer and one of the friendliest venues in Bristol. What more could you ask for?”

“Going to inordinate lengths to emulate Krautrock gods such as Can, the five-string banjo of Pat McGarvey is harnessed to a tea towel to recreate the arpeggios of the analogue sequencers pioneered by Tangerine Dream, and it sounds fantastically dreamy” Colin Somerville, 4 Stars, Scotland On Sunday

“Southern Tenant Folk Union find themselves attracted to the horror realm on this atmospheric album – to horror film soundtracks and to the horrors of modern society…which makes a bright, Beatlesy response to shadowy authority figures, or to both in the case of Crash, which recreates the creepy synth arpeggios used in 1970s horror scores on a five-string banjo”Fiona Shepherd, 4 Stars, The Scotsman

“The band just keep going from strength to strength…with Hello Cold they’ve hit a new stride and when you have a product as fine and accessible as this, it’s just hard to imagine it staying on the shelves for very long”Rob Lavender, Metro

“This is one hell of an album, delightfully tainted by a dark shadow, go for it, go for it in a big way.”Neil King, FATEA